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March 02, 2023US PRODUCTIVITY, Q4 & ANNUAL 2022 (REVISED) The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has released revised productivity estimates for the fourth quarter of 2022. All figures are reported as growth from the previous quarter at seasonally adjusted annualized rates.
Nonfarm business sector labour productivity in the US increased 1.7%. Output increased by 3.1% while hours worked increased by 1.4%.
Hourly compensation increased 4.9% in the fourth quarter, falling from 8.2% pace in the previous quarter. With a 1.7% gain in labour productivity, the slower growth in hourly compensation led to an increase of 3.2% in US unit labour costs compared to an increase of 6.9% in the previous quarter.
ANNUAL 2022
Labour productivity declined 1.7% in 2022 with output rising 2.3% and hours worked up 4.0%. This is the first year of labour productivity decline in the US since 2011. Average hourly compensation grew 4.7%, same as in 2021 and slower than 8.1% in 2020. Real hourly compensation, which takes into account changes in consumer prices, decreased 2.8 percent in 2022, the largest decline in the data series that begins in 1948. Unit labour costs increased by 6.5% in 2022, the fastest pace since 1982.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis