November 08, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Productivity in third quarter 2007

Productivity—as measured by output per hour of all persons—grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007 in the nonfarm business sector as output grew 4.3 percent and hours worked declined 0.5 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates).

Growth in output per hour of all persons, nonfarm business, seasonally adjusted, 2005 III - 2007 III (percent change from previous quarter at annual rate)
[Chart data—TXT]

The third-quarter productivity increase was the largest since a 10.4-percent increase in the third quarter of 2003.

Nonfarm business productivity increased 2.4 percent over the last four quarters, more than the 1.0-percent increase in calendar year 2006, and approaching the 2.7-percent average from 2000 to 2005.

These data are from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data are subject to revision. For more information, see "Productivity and Costs, Third Quarter 2007, Preliminary" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-1740.

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