Manufacturing Productivity Rises

Productivity for the manufacturing sector, because of the government shutdown, is the only data available for the fourth quarter. But there is a revision to the third quarter with nonfarm productivity shaved 1 tenth to plus 2.2 percent while unit labor costs remained unrevised at plus 0.9 percent.

Led by strength in durables, manufacturing productivity rose a quarter-to-quarter 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter which is in line with 1.1 and 1.2 percent gains in the prior two quarters. The fourth-quarter gain reflects a 2.3 percent rise in output against only a 1.0 percent increase in hours worked.

Year-on-year, however, manufacturing output slowed to 0.7 percent growth from 1.5 percent in the third quarter with output at a 2.8 percent pace and hours rising 2.1 percent.