While overall productivity rose by 4.3 percent across the board during the second quarter, the productivity of two key manufacturing sectors declined, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Both the business sector and the non-farm business sector saw productivity gains of 4.3 percent compared to the second quarter of 2007. Those increases were greater than estimates made by the department early in August.
However, productivity in manufacturing was down 2.2 percent during the quarter as a result of a 4.5 percent drop in productivity in durable goods manufacturing and an increase of 0.2 percent in non-durable goods manufacturing.
Manufacturing productivity decreased faster than expected, the department said. The department measures productivity in output per hour for each working person.
