Nonfarm business sector labor productivity decreased at a 0.5-percent annual
rate during the second quarter of 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today, as output increased 1.2 percent and hours worked increased
1.8 percent. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally
adjusted annual rates.) From the second quarter of 2015 to the second quarter
of 2016, productivity decreased 0.4 percent, the first four-quarter decline
in the series since a 0.6-percent decrease in the second quarter of 2013.
Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of
real output by an index of hours worked of all persons, including employees,
proprietors, and unpaid family workers.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm
