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Economy in Brief
U.S. Productivity Weakness Revised Little; Unit Labor Costs Still Firm
Productivity growth in the nonfarm business sector last quarter was revised to -0.2% at an annual rate (+1.5%) y/y...
U.S. Gasoline and Nat Gas Prices Fall While Crude Oil Prices Were Mixed
In the week ended December 9, retail gasoline prices edged down to $2.56 per gallon (+5.8% y/y)...
ZEW Assessments and Expectations Improve But Gain Less Markedly
The ZEW global macroeconomic assessments have improved along a broad front in December following a surge of improvement in November...
NABE Projections for Moderate Growth and Inflation Are Little Revised
The National Association for Business Economics expectations of 1.8% growth in real GDP during 2020...
German Trade Data Tell a Tale of Two Germanys
Germany's October trade report is better than expected...
by Tom Moeller March 7, 2018
Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector remained stable (revised from -0.1%) during Q4'17 following a 2.6% Q3 rise. A 0.1% slip had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Output rose at a 3.2% rate (3.2% y/y) after a 4.0% increase during Q3, while hours-worked strengthened 3.3%% (2.1% y/y). During all of 2017, productivity increased 1.2%, up from the 0.7% average during the last five years. Data were revised back to 2013 with the latest release.
Unit labor costs increased at a 2.5% rate (1.7% y/y), revised from 2.0%, after a 1.0% gain. A 2.1% rise had been expected. Compensation costs increased 2.4% (2.9% y/y), revised from 1.8%, following a 3.6% gain.
In the manufacturing sector, productivity surged at an unrevised 6.0% annual rate last quarter following a 4.7% decline. Output surged 6.6% (1.6% y/y) while hours-worked improved 0.5% (1.0% y/y).
Unit labor costs in the factory sector declined at a 3.3% rate (+1.3% y/y), revised from -3.7%, following a 5.8% increase. Compensation per hour grew 2.5% (2.4% y/y) following a 0.7% rise.
The productivity & cost figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figures are from the Action Economics Forecast Survey and are found in the AS1REPNA database.
Productivity & Costs (SAAR, %) | Q4'17 | Q3'17 | Q2'17 | Q4'17 Y/Y | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nonfarm Business Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour (Productivity) | 0.0 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
Compensation per Hour | 2.4 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 3.1 |
Unit Labor Costs | 2.5 | 1.0 | -1.2 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.8 |
Manufacturing Sector | |||||||
Output per Hour (Productivity) | 6.0 | -4.7 | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
Compensation per Hour | 2.5 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.5 |
Unit Labor Costs | -3.3 | 5.8 | -1.2 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.2 |