Of the 51 industries in durable manufacturing, 37 had productivity 

decreases in 2022 led by a decline of 11.7 percent in the motor vehicle industry. Nondurable 

manufacturing also had widespread declines in 2022 with productivity falling in 29 of 35 

industries, led by a 16.9-percent decline in the cut and sew apparel industry. Productivity 

fell in 3 of the 5 mining industries in 2022 with the greatest decrease occurring in the coal 

mining industry (-12.2 percent).

Increases in hours worked were widespread among manufacturing and mining industries in 2022. 

Hours worked rose in 79 of the 91 industries in 2022. Forty-one industries increased both 

output and hours worked in 2022. Within this set of industries, just over a third had rising 

labor productivity.

  

Labor Productivity Trends in Three-Digit NAICS Industries, 2022

Manufacturing

        * Labor productivity decreased in 19 of the 21 three-digit NAICS manufacturing 

          industries in 2022. All 21 industries had growth in hours worked.

        * Output increased in 11 industries. Four industries had increases of over 3.0 percent 

          in both output and hours worked.

        * The petroleum and coal products industry had the largest productivity gain 

          (+3.3 percent).

        * Apparel had the largest productivity decline (-15.2 percent).

Mining

        * Labor productivity declined in 2 of the 3 three-digit NAICS mining industries in 2022.

        * The productivity gain of 6.3 percent in support activities for mining was caused by 

          output increasing 23.8 percent while hours worked rose 16.5 percent.

        * Increases in hours worked outpaced output growth in both oil and gas extraction and 

          mining, except oil and gas. 

Trends in Unit Labor Costs in 2022

Unit labor costs reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output. Unit labor 

costs increase when hourly compensation growth exceeds productivity growth.

Manufacturing

        * In manufacturing, unit labor costs increased in all 21 three-digit NAICS industries 

          in 2022. Ten industries had growth of unit labor costs greater than 10.0 percent, and 

          each of these industries had declining labor productivity. 

        * Unit labor costs increased in 82 out of 86 four-digit NAICS manufacturing industries. 

          Nearly every manufacturing industry recorded growth in labor compensation in 2022, 

          with the only decline occurring in audio and video equipment.

Mining

       * Unit labor costs increased in all 3 three-digit NAICS mining industries. The greatest 

         growth in unit labor costs occurred in oil and gas extraction (+10.3 percent), which 

         also had the largest drop in labor productivity in 2022 (-6.9 percent).

 

2019 to 2022 Trends

Productivity increased in half of the NAICS four-digit manufacturing industries from 2019 to 

2022. Over this period, four of the five NAICS four-digit mining industries experienced 

productivity growth. Note that the percent changes referring to periods of more than one year 

in this section and the following section are compound annual growth rates.

Manufacturing

        * The two industries with the greatest gains in productivity from 2019 to 2022 were 

          audio and video equipment (+12.4 percent per year) and metalworking machinery (+9.6 

          percent per year). The largest productivity decline occurred in the iron and steel 

          mills and ferroalloys industry (-7.7 percent).

        * Output increased in just under half of the NAICS four-digit manufacturing industries 

          from 2019 to 2022. Audio and video equipment manufacturing was the industry with the 

          greatest output growth (+8.7 percent per year) while the largest decline occurred in 

          the iron and steel mills and ferroalloys industry (-10.1 percent).

        * Hours worked fell in 51 out of 86 NAICS four-digit manufacturing industries from 2019

          to 2022. Apparel knitting mills recorded the largest drop in hours worked (-9.9 

          percent per year). However, three industries had growth in hours worked greater than 

          5.0 percent over this period: other transportation equipment (+8.2 percent), beverages 

          (+7.2 percent), and motor vehicles (+7.0 percent).

          

Mining

        * In 2022, hours worked remained below pre-pandemic levels in all five of the NAICS 

          four-digit mining industries. The largest decline in hours worked occurred in support 

          activities for mining which decreased by 7.9 percent per year from 2019 to 2022.

        * Output decreased from 2019 to 2022 in four mining industries. The greatest drop in 

          output occurred in coal mining which fell by 6.6 percent per year. Only nonmetallic 

          mineral mining and quarrying returned to its pre-pandemic level of output with an 

          average increase of 0.3 percent from 2019 to 2022.

          

Long-Term Trends in Labor Productivity and Unit Labor Costs 

 

Labor Productivity

        * Over the entire 1987-2022 period, labor productivity rose in 82 of the 91 manufacturing 

          and mining industries. Output rose in 50 industries while hours worked increased in 

          only 19. In the 19 industries where hours worked increased, they rose at a slow pace, 

          0.7 percent per year on average.

        * During the 2007-2019 period, productivity increased in 35 industries. Of these 

          industries, only five had simultaneous growth in output as well as hours worked. Oil 

          and gas extraction had the greatest average growth in output over this period (+7.1 

          percent per year).

        * In the most recent 2019-2022 period, productivity increased in 47 industries. Hours 

          worked grew in 33 industries which is more than the other selected time periods. Other 

          transportation had the highest average growth in hours worked from 2019 to 2022 

          (+8.2 percent). 

Unit Labor Costs

        * From 1987 to 2022, unit labor costs increased in 81 of the 86 four-digit NAICS 

          manufacturing industries and in all five mining industries.

        * In both the 2007-2019 and 2019-2022 time periods, unit labor costs increased in 82 out 

          of 86 manufacturing industries, but in just 3 of the 5 mining industries. From 2007 to 

          2019, unit labor costs rose the most in the resin, rubber, and artificial fibers 

          industry. From 2019 to 2022, unit labor costs rose the most in the plywood and 

          engineered wood products industry (+15.0 percent per year).

          

The computer and peripheral equipment industry recorded the largest productivity gain (+12.4 

percent per year) as well as the largest unit labor costs decline (-10.7 percent) during the 

1987-2022 period. However, between 2019 and 2022, the audio and video equipment industry posted 

the greatest productivity growth (+12.4 percent) and the largest unit labor costs decline 

(-15.4 percent).

Additional Information

Measures of hours worked for all industries reflect a change in methods and are revised 

historically. The new method of determining hours worked uses all-employee hours data from the 

BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey as the main source of data. This is an improvement 

upon the prior method which instead used the CES production worker hours data. Another improvement 

is the use of BLS Current Population Survey (CPS) data to adjust CES all-employee hours paid to 

account for hours worked but not paid, also known as off-the-clock hours. Hours worked data also 

now incorporate all-employee based hours-worked-to-hours-paid ratios from the National Compensation 

Survey, rather than ratios based only on production workers. For more information on the new hours 

worked methodology, see 

www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2022/article/improving-estimates-of-hours-worked-for-us-productivity-measurement.htm.

Manufacturing industry output measures for 2021 and earlier years are constructed primarily using 

data from the economic censuses and annual surveys of the U.S. Census Bureau together with data on 

price changes primarily from BLS. These measures have been revised due to the release of the 2021 

Annual Survey of Manufactures. Manufacturing industry output for 2022 is estimated based on historical 

relationships between BLS sectoral output, BLS price indexes, and data on industrial production from 

the Federal Reserve Board.

Mining industry output measures are constructed primarily using data from the U.S. Energy Information 

Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries and Mineral Yearbooks. The 

data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration are usually revised on a monthly schedule while the 

U.S. Geological Survey's publications are released annually.

Access productivity data at www.bls.gov/productivity/tables/labor-productivity-detailed-industries.xlsx 

for:

        * Additional industries and sectors

        * Detailed data series: indexes of productivity and related measures; rates of change; and 

          levels of industry employment, hours worked, sectoral output, and labor compensation

          

Subscribe to productivity news releases on the BLS website at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOLBLS/subscriber/new.

Original source can be found here