May 07, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Productivity growth in first quarter

Nonfarm business sector productivity—as measured by output per hour—rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2004.

Growth in output per hour of all persons, nonfarm business, seasonally adjusted, 2002 II - 2004 I (percent change from previous quarter at annual rate)
[Chart data—TXT]

Output increased 4.9 percent and hours of all persons increased 1.3 percent in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2003, productivity had risen 2.5 percent, reflecting increases in output and hours of 4.2 and 1.6 percent, respectively.

These data are from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, First Quarter 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-817.

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The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

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