An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Bureau of Labor Statistics > Productivity > Home

Productivity Home Page

The Office of Productivity and Technology (OPT) measures how efficiently the U.S. converts inputs into the outputs of goods and services. Measures of labor productivity compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked and measures of total factor productivity (TFP), also known as multifactor productivity (MFP), compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and purchased services.

Notices

Revised Total Factor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries — 2019 Read More »
Revised productivity and costs for detailed industries Read More »
New Productivity program website - redesign and consolidation of Labor Productivity and Total Factor Productivity data Read More »

Videos

Graphics

Bar chart of labor productivity average annual percent changes in the non farm business sector for business cycles since 1947

Click the graphic to enlarge chart: Long-term labor productivity in the nonfarm business sector since 1947.

State map of labor productivity, 1-year percent change

Click the graphic to enlarge chart: Labor Productivity by State, Percent Change, 2021.

Stacked bar graph of the contribution of sources that total labor productivity, total factor productivity, labor composition, capital intensity. Average annual percent changem in in private business sector business cycles

Click the graphic to enlarge chart: Contributions to Labor Productivity Growth, Private Nonfarm Business Sector, Selected Time Periods.

Line graph of labor productivity and real hourly compenstation since 1973, commonly referred to as the wage gap. In log index values with base year 1973.

Click the graphic to enlarge chart: Labor Productivity and Real Hourly Compensation, Nonfarm Business Sector, 1973-2021.

Line graph of detailed industries labor productivity indexes of food and beverage store industries: Beer and wine liquor stores (NAICS 4453), Food and beverage stores (NAICS 445), Grocery stores (NAICS 4451), and Specialty food stores (NAICS 4452)

Click the graphic to enlarge chart: Detailed Industries Help Tell the Story, Indexes of Productivity Within Food and Beverage Stores.

1 2 3 4 5

Latest Numbers

Nonfarm Business Sector:

Output per Hour -7.3%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Hourly Compensation +4.4%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Unit Labor Costs +12.6%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Output -2.3%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Hours of All Persons +5.4%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Manufacturing Sector:

Output per Hour +0.2%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Hourly Compensation +5.9%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Unit Labor Costs +5.7%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Output +5.1%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

Hours of All Persons +4.9%(r) in 1st Qtr of 2022

News Releases

Productivity decreases 7.3% in Q1 2022; unit labor costs increase 12.6% (annual rates)

06/02/2022

Productivity decreased 7.3 percent in the nonfarm business sector in the first quarter of 2022; unit labor costs increased 12.6 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates). In manufacturing, productivity increased 0.2 percent and unit labor costs increased 5.7 percent.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

Productivity rises in 37 of 46 wholesale and retail trade industries in 2021

07/28/2022

Retail trade productivity increased 6.6 percent in 2021, slowing from its peak growth in 2020. Wholesale trade productivity rose 5.7 percent, led by growth in durable goods industries. Unit labor costs grew in both retail trade and wholesale trade.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

Productivity increases in 24 of 30 selected service-providing industries in 2021

06/30/2022

Labor productivity rose in 24 of 30 selected service-providing industries in 2021. Output increased in 27 industries in 2021 while hours worked increased in 18 industries.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

Productivity rises in 39 states and the District of Columbia in 2021

05/26/2022

Labor productivity increased in 39 states and the District of Columbia in 2021. Output increased in all 50 states and the District and hours worked increased in all states but declined in the District.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

Productivity rises in 51 of 91 manufacturing and mining industries in 2021

04/28/2022

Labor productivity increased in 47 of the 86 NAICS 4-digit manufacturing industries and in 4 mining industries in 2021. Output rose in three-quarters of industries, and two-thirds of industries had growth in hours worked.
HTML | PDF | RSS | Charts

Total factor productivity increases 3.2% in private nonfarm business in 2021

03/24/2022

Total factor productivity increased 3.2 percent in the nonfarm business sector in 2021 as output increased 7.4 percent and combined inputs increased 4.1 percent.
HTML | PDF | RSS

Total factor productivity declined in 16 out of 21 major industries in 2020

11/18/2021

In 2020, total factor productivity declined in 16 out of 21 major industries with the largest decline in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry (-17.9 percent).
HTML | PDF | RSS

Multifactor productivity fell in 61 of 86 4-digit NAICS manufacturing industries in 2019

08/26/2021

Multifactor productivity fell in 61 of 86 4-digit NAICS manufacturing industries in 2019, up from 37 of the industries in 2018. Among transportation industries, multifactor productivity increased in air transportation and decreased in line-haul railroads.
HTML | PDF | RSS

Next Releases

Productivity and Costs: Second Quarter 2022, Preliminary is scheduled to be released on August 9, 2022 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

The Economics Daily

Labor productivity up in 24 of 30 selected service-providing industries in 2021

Labor productivity rose in 24 of 30 selected service-providing industries from 2020 to 2021. Output grew in 23 of the 24 industries with an increase in productivity (natural gas distribution being the only exception, at −0.3 percent) and hours worked rose in 13 of the 24 industries. read more »

Monthly Labor Review

Revisions to BLS quarterly labor productivity estimates: How large are they?

This article examines the revisions to the BLS labor productivity and costs estimates, with the goal of developing intervals to help data users better assess the size of the revisions. read more »

Beyond the Numbers

Checking out productivity in grocery stores

In this Beyond the Numbers article, we review the timeline for the development and implementation of new retail technologies in grocery stores. Then, check out the shifts in products and services offered by grocery stores over time. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the article looks at the trends in employment and hours to show how all of these factors influenced labor productivity in grocery stores. read more »

Spotlight on Statistics

Industry Labor Productivity Trends from 2000 to 2010

Labor productivity rose for most industries during the first decade of the millennium. The expansion of information technology that fueled rapid productivity growth during the 1990s continued after 2000, and improvements in IT hardware and software, mobile telecommunications, data communications, and the growth of the internet contributed further to productivity growth. read more »

1 2 3 4