Labor productivity is a measure of economic performance that compares the amount of goods and services produced (output) with the number of hours worked to produce those goods and services. The BLS also publishes measures of multifactor productivity.

Next Releases:

  • Productivity and Costs: Fourth Quarter 2017, Preliminary is scheduled to be released on February 1, 2018 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

Learn About Productivity

Explore the meaning of productivity and learn how productivity growth can lead to improvements in our lives and the well-being of our nation.

Learn more about productivity.

 

LPC News Releases

Productivity rises 3.0% in 3rd quarter 2017 (annual rate); unit labor costs fall 0.2%

12/06/2017

Productivity increased 3.0 percent in the nonfarm business sector in the third quarter of 2017; unit labor costs declined 0.2 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates). In manufacturing, productivity decreased 4.4 percent and unit labor costs increased 4.8 percent.
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Productivity rises in 36 of 49 trade and food services industries in 2016

08/03/2017

Labor productivity rose in wholesale trade, retail trade, and food services and drinking places in 2016. Within these sectors, productivity increased in over two-thirds of the NAICS 4-digit industries studied.
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Productivity rises in 17 of 28 selected service-providing industries in 2016

05/18/2017

Labor productivity rose in 17 of 28 service-providing industries in 2016. Output and hours increased in fewer industries than in 2015.
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Productivity rises in 31 of 90 NAICS 4-digit manufacturing and mining industries in 2016

05/09/2017

Labor productivity rose in 27 of the 86 NAICS 4-digit manufacturing industries and all 4 mining industries in 2016. Output and hours worked increased in fewer industries in 2016 than in the previous year.
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Schedule of Upcoming Releases

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Major Sector Productivity and Costs
Top Picks for Productivity and Costs Data Finder for Productivity and Costs One Screen Data Search for Productivity and Costs Multi Screen Data Search for Productivity and Costs Tables for Productivity and Costs Text Files for Productivity and Costs
Industry Productivity
  Top Picks for Industry Productivity Data Finder for Industry Productivity One Screen Data Search for Industry Productivity Multi Screen Data Search for Industry Productivity Tables for Industry Productivity Text Files for Industry Productivity

 

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LPC Tables and Charts

Data Tables

Labor Productivity and Costs Measures for:
  • Business and Nonfarm Business Sectors - November 2, 2017 (XLSX) (TXT)
  • Manufacturing, Durable Manufacturing and Nondurable Manufacturing Sectors - November 2, 2017 (XLSX) (TXT)
  • Nonfinancial Corporate Sector - November 2, 2017 (XLSX) (TXT)
  • Industries (Interactive) - August 3, 2017 (XLSX 38.5MB), data only (XLSX 4.1MB)
Hours Worked and Employment Measures for:
  • Total U.S. Economy - all workers - November 2, 2017 (XLSX)
  • U.S. Nonfarm Economy by Sector - employees - November 17, 2017 (XLSX)
  • Industries (Interactive) - August 3, 2017 (XLSX 14.3MB), data only (XLSX 1.4MB)

Charts and Dashboards

LPC Technical Documentation

Major Sector Productivity Program

Industry Productivity Program

  • BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 11 Industry Productivity Measures (PDF)
  • Industry Hours and Employment. May 2014.
  • Construction of Average Weekly Hours for Supervisory and Nonproduction Wage and Salary Workers in Detailed Industries. August 2005. (PDF)

LPC Publications

LPC FAQs

LPC Special Notices

  • Beginning with the Productivity and Costs news release scheduled for March 8, 2017, an improvement in the methodology for estimating hours worked will be implemented. For more information see: https://www.bls.gov/lpc/hwhpnew.htm.
  • Data for private community hospitals (Industry 622A) were updated for 2014 on May 18, 2017. These changes have been incorporated into the Labor Productivity and Costs by Industry Tables and the Labor Productivity and Costs by Industry Chart Dashboard. The private community hospitals data were originally added on October 16, 2015.
  • Labor productivity and costs data for the nonfinancial corporate sector were corrected December 17, 2012. For more information, see http://www.bls.gov/lpc/lpc_nonfinancial_corporate_correction.htm.

Contact LPC

Major Sector Productivity and Cost Data (Quarterly and Annual)

Major Sector Productivity Staff (202) 691-5606 Contact us
Contact a subject matter expert by phone
 

Industry Productivity and Cost Data (Annual)

Industry Productivity Studies Staff (202) 691-5606 Contact us
Contact a subject matter expert by phone

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