Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in January, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent. Employment continued to trend up in construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing.
Nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased 0.1 percent during the fourth quarter of 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today, as output increased 3.2 percent and hours worked increased 3.3 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual
rates.) From the fourth quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2017, productivity increased 1.1 percent, reflecting a 3.2-percent increase in output and a 2.1-percent increase in hours worked.
Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector increased 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, due primarily to a 1.8-percent increase in hourly compensation. Unit labor costs increased 1.3 percent over the last four quarters.
BLS calculates 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.
Manufacturing sector labor productivity increased 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, as output increased 7.3 percent and hours worked rose 1.5 percent. These were the largest quarterly increases in manufacturing sector productivity and output since the second quarter of 2010, when output per hour
increased 7.0 percent and output jumped 10.7 percent. Productivity increased 6.7 percent in the durable goods manufacturing sector and 4.5 percent in the nondurable goods sector in the fourth quarter of 2017. Over the last four quarters, total manufacturing sector productivity increased 1.1 percent, as
output increased 2.7 percent and hours worked increased 1.6 percent. Unit labor costs in manufacturing decreased 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 and increased 1.1 percent from the same quarter a year ago.
The concepts, sources, and methods used for the manufacturing output series differ from those used in the business and nonfarm business output series; these output measures are not directly comparable. See the Technical Notes for a more detailed explanation.
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