November 03, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Productivity increases again

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector, as measured by output per hour, increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.8 percent in the third quarter of 2000. 

[Chart data—TXT]

The increase in labor productivity in the third quarter occurred as output rose 3.0 percent and hours of all persons fell 0.8 percent. This decline in hours was the largest since the first quarter of 1992, when hours fell 2.3 percent.

In the previous quarter, productivity had risen 6.1 percent, as output grew 6.5 percent and hours increased 0.4 percent.

These data are a product of the BLS Quarterly Labor Productivity program. Data are subject to revision. Additional information is available in "Productivity and Costs, Third Quarter 2000," news release USDL 00-319.