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Article: Getting more for less.(productivity statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Article from:
- Workforce Management
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BLISTERING GDP GROWTH of 7.2 percent for the third quarter of 2003--the fastest growth in two decades--grabbed all the recent headlines, but the dramatic news for workforce management lies within the relatively obscure unit labor costs data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unit labor costs reflect total compensation adjusted for inflation and productivity. The data now show the largest and most sustained cost decline in fifty years of BLS reporting.
Higher productivity, lower head counts and falling real wages have pushed unit labor costs changes deep into negative numbers for six of the past eight quarters. Employers are maintaining output at the same ...