Fall In Productivity In Q4 2012

Labour productivity on an output per hour basis fell by 0.5% in Q4 of 2012 and by 0.8% in manufacturing. Output per hour fell by 0.5% in the services sector. Market sector productivity fell by 0.6%, its lowest level since 2005.

Labour costs increased by 0.5% in Q4 2012, 1.8% higher than 2011. Labour costs in manufacturing increased by 1.7%, 7.4% higher than 2011.

Gross value added (GVA) fell by 0.3% while the number of workers increased by 0.6%, jobs increased by 0.5% and hours by 0.3%. Falling output with rising workers, jobs and hours suggests output per worker and output per job fell by 0.8% and output per hour fell by 0.5% (labour productivity is also calculable as growth of GVA minus growth of labour input).

Some people have more than one job which results in small differences between growth of output per worker and growth of output per job.

Sharp Fall In Productivity

The latest labour productivity statistics from the ONS show that productivity on an output per hour basis fell by 1.3% in the first quarter of 2012. Market sector productivity fell by 1.6%.

Labour productivity in the services sector fell by 0.4% and it fell by 2.6% in manufacturing, the sharpest fall since Q4 2008. Production sector productivity as a whole fell by 2.7%.

Unit labour costs increased by 1.4% in the first quarter. In manufacturing unit labour costs increased by 2.1%.

The GVA measure of output fell by 0.4% during Q1 2012. During the same period the number of workers and jobs increased by 0.4% and the number of hours worked increased by 0.9% resulting in a sharp fall in output per job over the period.

2.1% Rise In Euro Labour Costs

Euro area hourly labour costs rose by 2.1% in the year to Q1 2010. In the EU27 the rise was 2.2%. Wages and salaries per hour grew by 2% and the non-wage component by 2.1%. In the EU27 wages and salaries rose by 2.3% and the non-wage component by 1.9%. Statistics from Eurostat Labour Cost Index (LCI) euroindicators.

In the euro area, labour costs per hour in industry increase was 1.8%, in construction 2.1% and in services 2.2% in the year to Q1 2010. In the EU27 labour costs per hour grew by 1.8% in industry, 1.4% in construction and 2.5% in services.

The highest annual increases were in Bulgaria (10.5%) and Romania (7.4%). The highest decreases were in Lithuania (-11%), Latvia (-7.2%), Estonia (5.5%) and the Czech Republic (-3.1%).