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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
State Coincident Indexes in April 2022
State Labor Markets in April 2022
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
by Tom Moeller May 3, 2012
Last quarter, labor productivity posted an outright decline of 0.5% (AR) after having weakened considerably during all of last year. The Q1 figure matched expectations. The decline followed last year's notable deterioration in growth to just 0.6%, its weakest since 2008. Accompanying the slowdown was meaningful growth in compensation. Last quarter's 1.5% rise followed 2.5% growth in 2011 and 1.9% in 2010. Together, weaker productivity and firm compensation caused unit labor costs to advance at an elevated 2.0% annual rate, about the same as it did last year.
Factory sector productivity continued to show the payoff from investment in new technologies. Last quarter's 5.9% growth was a rebound from 0.6% in Q4'11 and pulled y/y growth back to its firm 2011 average. At the same time, growth in compensation last quarter remained a moderate 1.5%. As a result, unit labor costs fell at a 4.2% rate, the swiftest decline in two years.
The productivity & cost figures are available in Haver's USECON database.
Productivity & Costs (SAAR,%) | Q1'12 | Q4'11 | Q3'11 | Q1 Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonfarm Business Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour (Productivity) | -0.5 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 2.4 |
Compensation per Hour | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 1.7 |
Unit Labor Costs | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 2.1 | 1.9 | -2.0 | -0.7 |
Manufacturing Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour | 5.9 | 0.6 | 5.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 6.6 | 0.6 |
Compensation per Hour | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 4.5 |
Unit Labor Costs | -4.2 | 1.3 | -2.2 | -1.3 | -0.7 | -4.7 | 3.9 |