Productivity decreased 2.2 percent in manufacturing in the second quarter of 2008, as output fell 3.7 percent and hours of all persons fell 1.5 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates). This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This was the largest quarterly decline in manufacturing productivity since a 2.5-percent decrease in the second quarter of 1989; it was concentrated in the durable goods sector, where productivity declined 4.5 percent.
In non-durable goods, productivity edged up 0.2 percent as output and hours fell 1.3 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
This data is from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Data is subject to revision. For more information, see "Productivity and Costs, Second Quarter 2008, Revised," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1251.
