December 08, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Little revision to third-quarter productivity growth

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector—as measured by output per hour—increased at a revised seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2004. The preliminary estimate, made in early November, was 1.9 percent.

Previous and revised productivity and related measures, nonfarm business, third quarter 2004 (quarterly percent change at seasonally adjusted annual rates)
[Chart data—TXT]

Output in the nonfarm business sector grew at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the third quarter; the preliminary estimate was 4.1 percent.

Hours of all persons were up 2.4 percent, following an initially reported estimate of 2.1 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, Third Quarter 2004, Revised" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-2461.

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