June 07, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Downward revision of first-quarter productivity growth

Productivity—as measured by output per hour—increased at a revised seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.0 percent in the nonfarm business sector during the first quarter of 2007. Productivity growth for the first quarter was originally estimated at 1.7 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Hours of all persons—employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers—fell 0.4 percent, following an initially reported estimate of a fall of 0.3 percent. The decline in nonfarm business hours worked was the first since 2003, when hours fell 2.1 percent in the first quarter and 1.3 percent in the second quarter.

Output in the nonfarm business sector increased at an annual rate of 0.6 percent; the preliminary estimate was 1.4 percent.

These data are from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data in this report are seasonally adjusted annual rates. These estimates are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, First Quarter 2007, Revised" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0821.