Whole economy productivity and unit wage costs, Annual growth

Productivity across the whole economy, measured by output per worker, decreased by 0.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter a year ago and is down from growth of 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter. This fall was due to a decrease in output.

On a quarterly basis, productivity decreased by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, down from growth of 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

The alternative measure of productivity, output per hour worked, showed that hourly productivity across the whole economy was flat in the third quarter of 2008 compared with the same quarter a year ago and down from 1.7 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

In the third quarter of 2008, manufacturing productivity, on an output per job basis was 0.5 per cent higher than the same quarter of 2007 and down from growth of 1.6 per cent in the previous quarter. The decrease in the growth rate of quarterly productivity was due to a decrease in the growth rate of manufacturing output.

On a quarterly basis, manufacturing productivity decreased by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, compared with the previous quarter, up from a decrease of 0.5 per cent in the previous quarter. This decrease in the contraction rate of quarterly productivity was due to an increase in the quarter-on-quarter contraction rate of manufacturing of manufacturing jobs.

Unit wage costs across the whole economy in the third quarter of 2008 were 3.0 per cent higher than the same quarter a year earlier, up from an increase of 2.2 per cent in the previous quarter. This was due to a decrease in the growth rate of output per worker.

Overall manufacturing unit wage costs in the third quarter of 2008 grew by 2.4 per cent compared with the same quarter a year earlier, up from a 1.3 per cent growth in the previous quarter.