May 31, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Productivity up in many service-producing and mining industries
In 1998, labor
productivity as measured by output per hour increased in 80 percent of the
service-producing and mining industries analyzed by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Output growth was recorded by 82 percent of the industries,
while hours of labor grew in 54 percent of the industries.
![Proportion of measured service-producing and mining industries with increases in productivity, output, and hours of labor, 1997-98](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925072013im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/2000/May/wk5/art02.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Among the relatively large industries with productivity gains between
1997 and 1998 were telephone communications (6.4 percent), department
stores (4.8 percent), grocery stores (1.1 percent), hotels and motels (0.8
percent), and eating and drinking places (0.6 percent). Industries with
decreases in productivity included gas utilities (-3.3 percent), air
transportation (-2.8 percent), and trucking, except local (-1.8 percent).
This information is from the Industry
Productivity Program. Additional information is available from "Productivity
and Costs: Service-Producing and Mining Industries, 1987-98" news
release USDL 00-156. Also, information on manufacturing industries can be
found in "Productivity
and Costs: Manufacturing Industries, 1987-97" news release USDL
00-155.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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