December 07, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Factory productivity in the third quarter of 2005

Productivity—as measured by output per hour of all persons—increased 3.4 percent in manufacturing in the third quarter of 2005. Output increased 2.4 percent and hours of all persons decreased 1.0 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates).

[Chart data—TXT]

Productivity in manufacturing grew more slowly than in the second quarter of the year, when it rose 4.0 percent (as revised). In the second quarter of 2005, output rose 1.2 percent and hours of all persons dropped 2.6 percent.

In durable goods industries, productivity increased 6.5 percent in the third quarter, reflecting increases of 6.9 percent in output and 0.3 percent in hours. Productivity grew more slowly in the nondurable goods industries, 0.2 percent, as output declined 3.1 percent and hours fell 3.3 percent. Hours in nondurable goods manufacturing have fallen in every quarter beginning with the third quarter of 1999.

These data are from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data are subject to revision. For more information, see the "Productivity and Costs, Third Quarter 2005, revised" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-2275.