September 03, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Second quarter 2009 productivity growth revised
During the second quarter of 2009, nonfarm business sector productivity—as measured by output per hour—increased at an annual rate of 6.6 percent; revised from the initial estimate of 6.4 percent.
[Chart data]
The 6.6 percent increase was the largest productivity increase since the third quarter of 2003, and reflects declines of 1.5 percent in output and 7.6 percent in hours worked.
From the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, output fell 5.5 percent while hours fell 7.2 percent, yielding an increase in productivity of 1.9 percent.
Nonfarm business activity increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from 2000 through 2008.
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, Second Quarter 2009, Revised" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-1066.
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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