IWS Documented News DAILY POSTINGS

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
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 First Quarter 2011, Preliminary [5 May 2011]

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm

or

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/prod2.pdf

[full-text, 15 pages]

and

Supplemental Files Table of Contents

http://www.bls.gov/web/prod2.supp.toc.htm

Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 1.6 percent

annual rate during the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics reported today. The gain in productivity reflects increases of

3.1 percent in output and 1.4 percent in hours worked. (All quarterly

percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.)

From the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, output

increased 3.2 percent while hours rose 1.9 percent, yielding an increase

in productivity of 1.3 percent. (See tables A and 2.)

Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index

of real output by an index of hours worked of all persons, including

employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers.

Unit labor costs in nonfarm businesses rose 1.0 percent in the first

quarter of 2011, as a 2.6 percent increase in hourly compensation outpaced

the 1.6 percent gain in productivity.  Unit labor costs rose 1.2 percent

from the same quarter a year ago. (See tables A and 2.)  In the first

quarter of 2011, the consumer price series increased at a 5.3 percent

annual rate, resulting in a decline of 2.5 percent in real hourly

compensation. 

BLS defines unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor

productivity; increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor

costs and increases in output per hour tend to reduce them.  Real hourly

compensation is equal to hourly compensation divided by the consumer price

series.  

AND MUCH MORE...including TABLEs....

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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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) 262-6041               
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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