Manufacturing productivity measures real output produced per hour worked. Recent U.S. data show modest aggregate gains alongside falling output and hours, wide differences among industries, rising unit labor costs, and capacity utilization below its long-run average.
Key Manufacturing Productivity Statistics
The most useful headline figures span recent U.S. manufacturing, longer industry comparisons, costs, capacity, and international context:
- In 2024, U.S. manufacturing labor productivity increased 0.6% on the annual average.
- In 2024, U.S. manufacturing output decreased 0.4% on the annual average.
- In 2024, U.S. manufacturing hours worked decreased 1.0% on the annual average.
- In Q4 2024, U.S. manufacturing productivity rose 0.3% at a seasonally adjusted annual rate from Q3 2024.
- In Q4 2024, U.S. manufacturing output fell 1.3% at an annual rate from Q3 2024.
- In Q4 2024, U.S. manufacturing hours worked fell 1.6% at an annual rate from Q3 2024.
- From Q4 2019 to Q4 2024, U.S. manufacturing productivity grew 0.3% per year on an annualized basis.
- In Q4 2024, U.S. durable-manufacturing productivity decreased 1.1% at an annual rate from Q3 2024.
- In Q4 2024, U.S. nondurable-manufacturing productivity increased 1.4% at an annual rate from Q3 2024.
- From 2019 to 2025, computer and peripheral equipment productivity grew 5.5% per year in U.S. manufacturing.
- From 2019 to 2025, productivity decreased in 54 of 80 covered U.S. four-digit manufacturing industries.
- From 2019 to 2025, output decreased in more than three-quarters of covered U.S. four-digit manufacturing industries.
- In 2024, U.S. manufacturing unit labor costs increased 3.3% on the annual average.
- In 2025, unit labor costs increased in all 20 covered U.S. three-digit manufacturing industries.
- In 2024, U.S. manufacturing capacity utilization averaged 74.8%.
- Over 1972–2024, U.S. manufacturing capacity utilization averaged 78.2%.
- In 2023, OECD-wide total-economy labor productivity increased 0.6%.
- In 2023, U.S. total-economy labor productivity increased 1.6%.
- In 2023, euro-area total-economy labor productivity fell 0.9%.
Contents
- Key Manufacturing Productivity Statistics
- Recent U.S. Manufacturing Productivity Trends
- Durable and Nondurable Manufacturing Data
- Manufacturing Output, Hours, and Long-Run Change
- Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
- Manufacturing Productivity and Capacity Utilization
- International Productivity Context and Firm Differences
Recent U.S. Manufacturing Productivity Trends
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines labor productivity as an index of real output divided by hours worked by all workers, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. The annual and quarterly figures below describe U.S. manufacturing, with quarterly changes reported as seasonally adjusted annualized rates.
| Measure | 2024 annual average | Q4 2024 vs. Q3 2024, annual rate | Q4 2024 vs. Q4 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labor productivity | +0.6% | +0.3% | +0.4% |
| Real output | -0.4% | -1.3% | -0.4% |
| Hours worked | -1.0% | -1.6% | -0.7% |
Source: BLS Productivity and Costs News Release – 2024 Q05 Results. The output series is real, hours include BLS estimates, and annualized quarterly rates should not be read as simple three-month changes.
The recent pattern is therefore mixed: productivity rose even as output declined, while hours fell faster in the quarterly comparison. Over the 2019–2024 business-cycle interval, manufacturing productivity grew at a 0.3% annualized rate, while hours declined at a 0.3% annualized rate.
Durable and Nondurable Manufacturing Productivity Data
The aggregate manufacturing result conceals a sharp difference between durable and nondurable industries in Q4 2024. Durable manufacturing contracted on both output and productivity measures, while nondurable manufacturing recorded productivity and output growth.
| U.S. manufacturing group | Productivity | Output | Hours worked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durable, Q4 2024 vs. Q3 2024 | -1.1% | -3.2% | -2.1% |
| Nondurable, Q4 2024 vs. Q3 2024 | +1.4% | +0.6% | -0.8% |
| Durable, Q4 2024 year over year | +0.4% | — | — |
| Nondurable, Q4 2024 year over year | -0.4% | — | — |
Source: BLS Productivity and Costs News Release – 2024 Q05 Results. Quarterly figures are seasonally adjusted annualized rates; year-over-year productivity figures are not annualized.
Longer industry results show that productivity performance is highly uneven. From 2019 to 2025, computer and peripheral equipment productivity grew 5.5% per year, and audio and video equipment productivity grew 5.1% per year, while beverage manufacturing productivity fell 6.3% per year.
Manufacturing Output, Hours, and Long-Run Change
BLS industry coverage provides a broader view of structural change. Among 80 covered four-digit U.S. manufacturing industries from 2019 to 2025, productivity decreased in 54 industries, and output decreased in more than three-quarters of the industries.
Selected annualized changes from 2019 to 2025 include:
- Audio and video equipment recorded the highest manufacturing output growth at 3.7% per year.
- Textile and fabric finishing mills had the largest output decline, at 8.5% per year.
- Spring and wire products output declined 7.5% per year.
- Hours worked fell in 50 of the 80 covered four-digit manufacturing industries.
- Apparel knitting mills had the largest hours-worked decline, at 7.7% per year.
- Other food manufacturing hours worked grew 3.3% per year.
- Beverage manufacturing hours worked grew 3.0% per year.
The same BLS release also reports a longer 1987–2025 comparison for 85 covered manufacturing and mining industries. Labor productivity rose in 75 industries, output rose in 42, and hours worked increased in only 15; in those 15 industries, hours rose at an average 0.7% per year.
For the more recent 2019–2025 comparison across that combined coverage, productivity increased in 29 industries and hours worked grew in 30. These counts combine manufacturing and mining, so they should not be treated as manufacturing-only totals.
Source: BLS Productivity and Costs by Industry: Manufacturing and Mining Industries – 2025. The 2019–2025 rates are annualized compound changes, and four-digit coverage is not the same as a count of all establishments.
Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
Unit labor cost is hourly compensation divided by labor productivity. It connects productivity with the labor cost of producing a unit of output, but it is not the same as a wage measure alone.
| U.S. manufacturing measure | Period | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Unit labor costs | 2024 annual average | +3.3% |
| Hourly compensation | 2024 annual average | +4.0% |
| Real hourly compensation | 2024 annual average | +1.0% |
| Unit labor costs | Q4 2024 vs. Q3 2024, annual rate | +3.7% |
| Unit labor costs | Q4 2024 vs. Q4 2023 | +2.0% |
Source: BLS Productivity and Costs News Release – 2024 Q05 Results. Nominal hourly compensation is distinct from real hourly compensation, which is adjusted for consumer prices.
Industry results show broad cost pressure. In 2025, unit labor costs increased in all 20 covered three-digit manufacturing industries, with average growth of 4.5%.
Electrical equipment and appliances recorded 10.3% growth, miscellaneous manufacturing 10.1%, and beverages and tobacco products 8.5%.
At the four-digit level, unit labor costs increased in 71 of 80 covered manufacturing industries in 2025. From 2019 to 2025, they increased in 79 of 80 industries, while beverage manufacturing unit labor costs rose 10.2% per year.
Source: BLS Productivity and Costs by Industry: Manufacturing and Mining Industries – 2025. These are BLS industry series and annualized compound-period comparisons where stated.
Manufacturing Productivity and Capacity Utilization
Capacity utilization measures how much of available production capacity is being used; it is a separate indicator from labor productivity. The Federal Reserve’s series is seasonally adjusted, and its stage-of-process aggregates describe different parts of manufacturing rather than a single productivity outcome.
| Capacity measure | Period | Utilization |
|---|---|---|
| Total manufacturing | 2024 annual average | 74.8% |
| Total manufacturing | 1972–2024 average | 78.2% |
| Total manufacturing | 2021 annual average | 78.4% |
| Finished stage | 1972–2024 average | 76.7% |
| Primary and semifinished stage | 1972–2024 average | 80.1% |
| Crude materials stage | 1972–2024 average | 85.6% |
Source: Federal Reserve Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, G.17 Table 2. Capacity utilization should not be interpreted as a direct labor-productivity measure, and stage figures are separate aggregates.
The 2024 annual average was below the 1972–2024 manufacturing average, while the 2021 figure was close to that long-run benchmark. This comparison describes utilization relative to available capacity, not the efficiency of each hour worked.
International Manufacturing Productivity Context and Firm Differences
International comparisons require care because the OECD figures here are mostly total-economy labor productivity rather than manufacturing-only measures. OECD labor productivity is GDP per hour worked, so it should not be directly compared with BLS manufacturing output per hour.
| Geography | Period | Total-economy labor-productivity change |
|---|---|---|
| OECD-wide | 2023 | +0.6% |
| United States | 2023 | +1.6% |
| Euro area | 2023 | -0.9% |
| OECD countries excluding Türkiye | 2024 estimate | Around +0.4% |
Source: OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators 2025. The 2024 figure is an experimental estimate and is not manufacturing-only.
Around half of OECD countries experienced an investment increase in 2023, and around half saw productivity gains. In about half of countries with available data, the within-industry productivity contribution was negative or near zero in 2023.
These international results are broad context rather than a manufacturing participation rate or a factory-level benchmark. For U.S. establishment-level measures, the Census Annual Survey of Manufactures covers manufacturing establishments with one or more paid employees in NAICS 31–33 and supplies annual measures including employment, payroll, hours, materials, shipments, and value added; it is annual except Economic Census years ending in 2 and 7.
Source: Census Annual Data on Manufacturing and Annual Survey of Manufactures documentation. Those Census measures describe the manufacturing establishment universe and related outcomes, while the productivity statistics above come from BLS and the capacity figures from the Federal Reserve.