Tuesday, March 29, 2011
[IWS] BLS: PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS BY INDUSTRY: MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, 2009 [23 March 2011]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS BY INDUSTRY: MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, 2009 [23 March 2011]
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/prin_03232011.htm
or
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/prin_03232011.pdf
[full-text, 8 pages]
Labor productivity - defined as output per hour - rose in 28 percent of the 86 detailed manufacturing
industries studied in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was down from 38
percent of the detailed manufacturing industries in 2008 and 56 percent in 2007. Unit labor costs, which
reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output, declined in 14 percent of the industries
in 2009.
Output and hours also rose in fewer industries in 2009 than in the previous two years. Output rose in 7
of the 86 industries in 2009, while hours increased in only 1. Output and hours declined at double-digit
rates in over 7 out of 10 industries studied.
Productivity increased the most in seafood product preparation and packaging and in agricultural
chemical manufacturing. In both industries, hours declined while output increased. Productivity fell the
most in audio and video equipment manufacturing, where output declined much more than hours.
Industry labor productivity measures are updated as data become available. Productivity measures for
industries in other sectors can be accessed on the BLS Labor Productivity and Costs web site at
www.bls.gov/lpc.
Labor productivity increased in only 5 of the 21 3-digit NAICS manufacturing industries in 2009.
Output fell in all but one of these industries, and hours declined in all of them. Unit labor costs fell in 3
of the industries.
The industry productivity performance in 2009 contrasts with industry productivity performance over
the longer term. Between 1987 and 2009, labor productivity increased in 93 percent of the detailed
manufacturing industries and unit labor costs declined in 14 percent of the industries. There is a
significantly more negative distribution of productivity growth rates in the most recent year compared to
those for the longer-term period from 1987 to 2009.
AND MORE...including TABLES....
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Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
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