Monthly Labor Review • April 2011 53

The 2007–09 Recession: Hours Decline

The decline in work hours during the 

2007–09 recession

Steven Kroll

Steven Kroll is an 

economist in the Office 

of Employment and 

Unemployment Statistics, 

Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Email: kroll.steven@bls.

gov

Average weekly hours for employees in private industry

decreased across all industries; hours were pulled down

further as a result of heavy job losses in industries

with above-average workweeks

The average workweek for all employees on private nonagricultural payrolls decreased by 0.9 hour during the December 2007–June 2009 recession. Aggregate weekly hours, the product 

of employment and average weekly hours, 

fell even more. Both the workweek and aggregate hours peaked 6 months prior to the 

business cycle, which reached its high point 

in June 2007. Average weekly hours bottomed out in June 2009; however, aggregate 

weekly hours lagged the end of the recession, 

with its trough not occurring until October 

2009.1 (See chart 1.) Goods-producing industries experienced steeper declines in both 

job loss and the average workweek than their 

private service-providing counterparts.

Hours data for all employees were first 

published in 2007, so such data cannot be 

used to compare the 2007–09 recession 

with past recessions. Hours and employment of production and nonsupervisory 

employees (together, production workers), 

who represent about 80 percent of all employees, allow historical comparisons back 

to 1964. As in previous recessions, in the 

recent recession goods-producing industries 

experienced steeper employment losses and 

sharper declines in the average weekly hours 

of production workers than did service-providing industries. Still, although less sensitive 

to the most recent cyclical downturn than 

the goods-producing sector, the private service-providing sector exhibited substantially 

greater reductions in hours for production 

workers than in past recessions. Indeed, decreases in aggregate weekly hours in service 

industries were 4 times greater than in any 

previous recession dating back to 1973.

As 2010 came to a close, neither the average workweek nor aggregate weekly hours 

had recovered to their prerecession levels.

Hours and the business cycle

Average weekly hours of production workers in manufacturing are viewed as a leading 

indicator in the business cycle. In theory, 

when demand for their goods or services 

changes, businesses are more likely to adjust worker hours before hiring or laying 

off workers. Therefore, changes in average 

weekly hours can signal increases or decreases in overall economic activity. Average weekly hours of production workers in 

manufacturing are currently a component 

of the leading index published by The Conference Board.2

Aggregate weekly hours of all employees 

are defined as the product of average weekly 

hours of all employees and total number of 

employees.3 The total number of employees 

is currently a component of the coincident 

index published by The Conference Board. 

Because aggregate weekly hours are weighted by employment, they exhibit a tendency 

to move coincidentally with the business 

cycle.
The 2007–09 Recession: Hours Decline

54 Monthly Labor Review • April 2011

Industry-level analysis of aggregate weekly hours helps 

to identify the industries that drive changes to the toplevel estimate of the average number of hours in the workweek. Changes in this average at the total private level 

are driven by changes in industries’ employment levels 

and average workweek hours. When workers employed 

in industries with higher-than-average workweek hours 

are laid off disproportionately, all else remaining equal, 

the loss of their hours applies downward pressure on total 

hours worked in private industry during the workweek. 

Conversely, when workers are laid off in industries with 

lower-than-average workweeks, upward pressure is applied to the total private estimate. Finally, if all employees, 

on average, are getting paid for fewer work hours, downward pressure on total private hours is applied.4

Drop in hours during the recession 

During the 2007–09 recession, average weekly hours 

for all employees on private nonagricultural payrolls decreased by 0.9 hour, or 2.6 percent, while aggregate weekly 

hours fell more steeply, by 9.1 percent. (See table 1.) The 

goods-producing sector experienced significant declines 

in both average weekly hours and employment levels. 

Because total private average weekly hours are weighted 

by industry employment, both the very large employment 

losses and the decreases in the workweek in goods-producing industries pulled down the average workweek for 

all private sector industries.

Average weekly hours for construction fell by 1.1 hours. 

Although construction experienced the smallest reduction in average weekly hours among goods-producing industries during the recession, heavy job losses in the sector 

led to the largest relative reduction in aggregate weekly 

hours in the economy: total weekly hours in construction 

dropped by 22.1 percent. Aggregate weekly hours in construction declined 31.1 percent from a peak in December 

2006 to a trough in February 2010.

Average weekly hours for manufacturing fell by 1.5 

hours, or 3.7 percent, during the recession. From peak to 

trough, aggregate weekly hours decreased substantially 

more, by 17.8 percent, more than one-quarter of the decrease in aggregate weekly hours for the entire economy. 

Close to three-quarters of the reduction in aggregate 

weekly hours for manufacturing occurred in durable goods 

industries, in which transportation equipment, machin-

 Chart 1. Average weekly hours and aggregate weekly hours, all private employees, seasonally adjusted, 

January 2007–December 2010

Average

weekly hours

34.8

34.6

34.4

34.2

34.0

33.8

33.6

33.4

33.2

33.0

Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

Aggregate

weekly hours

(thousands)

Aggregate weekly hours

Average weekly hours

4,050,000

4,000,000

3,950,000

3,900.000

3,850,000

3,800,000

3,750,000

3,700,000

3,650,000

3,600,000

2007 2008 2009 2010

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Monthly Labor Review • April 2011 55

ery, and fabricated metal in turn accounted for more than 

half of the decrease in hours. The sharp drop in aggregate 

weekly hours for durable goods industries is attributable to 

large cuts in payroll employment. Employment in transportation equipment fell in excess of 20 percent during 

the recent recession, the largest net reduction in aggregate 

hours in durable goods and the decline that contributed 

the most to employment losses in manufacturing.5

Among nondurable industries, the steepest decline was 

experienced in plastics and rubber products manufacturing, 

which accounted for one-quarter of the reduction in aggregate hours in those industries. Primarily responsible for 

the fall in aggregate weekly hours in plastics and rubber 

products manufacturing were decreases in employment. 

For production workers in manufacturing, average 

weekly hours fell by 1.5 hours (see table 2), at least twice 

the drop posted in each of the previous two recessions. 

Historically viewed as a leading economic indicator of the 

business cycle, the workweek for manufacturing production workers was not as prescient a harbinger of the most 

recent recession: average weekly hours did not consistently fall below the 2007 average until September 2008, a full 

9 months after the beginning of the recession.

Within service-providing industries, utilities and other 

services (repair services, personal services, and membership organizations) experienced the largest nominal and 

relative declines in average weekly hours. Among private 

service-providing industries, the information sector experienced no reduction in the average workweek during the 

recession.

Service industry employers responded in different 

ways to meet their labor needs during the recession. In 

some industries, employers were more likely to shorten 

the workweek and maintain their payroll employment 

levels; in others, employers trimmed employment. For 

example, the average workweek for professional and business services was shortened by 0.8 percent, but aggregate 

hours dropped by 9.7 percent, the largest decline within 

the private service sector. (See table 1.) The large drop in 

aggregate weekly hours relative to the small decrease in 

average weekly hours illustrates employers’ tendency to 

cut payroll employment rather than hours. Retail trade, 

wholesale trade, financial activities, and transportation 

and warehousing also exhibited this trend.

Changes in employment and hours, all employees, by industry, December 2007– June 2009

Industry

All employees Average weekly hours Aggregate hours

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

December 

2007 level

Change 

in level

Percent 

change

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

Total private................................. –7,670 –6.6 100.0 34.6 –0.9 –2.6 –362,525 –9.1 100.0

 Goods producing ................... –3,550 –16.2 46.3 39.7 –1.4 –3.5 –166,719 –19.1 46.0

 Mining and logging............ –54 –7.3 .7 44.3 –2.5 –5.6 –4,107 –12.5 1.1

 Construction ......................... –1,484 –19.8 19.3 38.3 –1.1 –2.9 –63,440 –22.1 17.5

 Manufacturing ..................... –2,012 –14.6 26.2 40.2 –1.5 –3.7 –98,474 –17.8 27.2

 Service providing ................... –4,120 –4.4 53.7 33.4 –.6 –1.8 –191,320 –6.1 52.8

 Wholesale trade ................... –458 –7.6 6.0 38.4 –.6 –1.6 –20,939 –9.0 5.8

 Retail trade............................. –1,047 –6.7 13.7 31.7 –.6 –1.9 –41,922 –8.5 11.6

 Transportation and

 warehousing...................... –333 –7.3 4.3 38.5 –.5 –1.3 –14,928 –8.5 4.1

 Utilities.................................... 4 .6 .0 42.1 –1.6 –3.8 –745 –3.2 .2

 Information............................ –229 –7.6 3.0 36.3 .1 .3 –8,033 –7.3 2.2

 Financial activities............... –473 –5.8 6.2 36.6 –.3 –.8 –19,637 –6.5 5.4

 Professional and 

 business services.............. –1,608 –8.9 21.0 35.3 –.3 –.8 –61,696 –9.7 17.0

 Education and health 

 services................................ 619 3.3 –8.1 33.6 –.8 –2.4 5,459 .9 –1.5

 Leisure and hospitality...... –454 –3.4 5.9 26.1 –.6 –2.3 –19,700 –5.6 5.4

 Other services....................... –140 –2.5 1.8 32.7 –1.2 –3.7 –11,027 –6.1 3.0

Table 1.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The 2007–09 Recession: Hours Decline

56 Monthly Labor Review • April 2011

Elsewhere in the service-providing sector, other industries relied more on reduced hours than on laying off 

personnel. Although average weekly hours in utilities 

dropped 3.8 percent, employment held relatively steady 

and aggregate weekly hours fell by only 3.2 percent, the 

smallest decline among service industries. Within private 

education and health services, job gains more than offset 

decreases in the workweek, resulting in increases in aggregate hours.

Among the service-providing industries, aggregate 

weekly hours fell by 9.7 percent, accounting for more than 

one-sixth of the decrease in private sector hours during 

the recession. Employment services, architectural and engineering services, and services to building and dwellings 

contributed most to the decline.

Financial activities experienced a small decrease in the 

average workweek during the recent recession. Declines 

in aggregate weekly hours were attributable primarily to 

decreases in employment. Credit intermediation and related activities accounted for more than one-half of the 

decrease in aggregate weekly hours for financial activities 

from December 2007 to June 2009.

Three recessions compared 

Hours data for all employees start in 2006; therefore, such 

data cannot be used to compare the 2007–09 recession 

with past recessions. Fortunately, monthly changes in 

average weekly hours for all employees track changes in 

average weekly hours for production workers. (See chart 

2.) Because production workers are about 80 percent of all 

employees, historical comparisons of hours data for these 

workers can be made back to 1964.

Reductions in average weekly hours for production 

workers were greater during the 2007–09 recession than 

during the 1990–91 recession or the 2001 recession. The 

average workweek for all such workers in private industry 

declined 2.1 percent, far more than the drop of 0.9 percent experienced during each of the two earlier recessions.

Holding to historical trends, decreases in average 

weekly hours for goods-producing industries during the 

2007–09 recession were substantially greater than the decreases in hours of most of their service-providing counterparts. However, the average workweek for the private 

service-providing sector did fall more in the 2007–09 

 Chart 2. Average weekly hours, all employees and production employees, seasonally adjusted, January 

2007– December 2010

Percent

34.8

34.6

34.4

34.2

34.0

33.8

33.6

33.4

33.2

33.0

32.8

Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct

Percent

Production employees

All employees

34.8

34.6

34.4

34.2

34.0

33.8

33.6

33.4

33.2

33.0

32.8

2007 2008 2009 2010

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Monthly Labor Review • April 2011 57

Changes in employment and hours, all nonsupervisory and production employees, by industry,

December 2007–June 2009

Industry

Production employees Average weekly hours Aggregate hours

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

December 

2007 level

Change 

in level

Percent 

change

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

Total private........................................... –6,463 –6.8 100.0 33.8 –0.8 –2.4 –289,548 –9.0 100.0

 Goods producing ............................. –3,012 –18.5 46.6 40.6 –1.6 –3.9 –143,502 –21.7 49.6

 Mining and logging...................... –54 –9.7 .8 45.9 –2.8 –6.1 –3,892 –15.2 1.3

 Construction ................................... –1,245 –21.5 19.3 39.1 –1.5 –3.8 –55,505 –24.5 19.2

 Manufacturing ............................... –1,713 –17.3 26.5 41.1 –1.5 –3.6 –82,711 –20.3 28.6

 Service providing ............................. –3,451 –4.4 53.4 32.4 –.4 –1.2 –142,058 –5.5 49.1

 Wholesale trade ............................. –399 –8.2 6.2 38.2 –.6 –1.6 –17,948 –9.6 6.2

 Retail trade....................................... –919 –6.9 14.2 30.1 –.3 –1.0 –31,412 –7.8 10.8

 Transportation and 

 warehousing................................... –286 –7.2 4.4 36.8 –1.1 –3.0 –14,567 –10.0 5.0

 Utilities.............................................. 6 1.4 –.1 42.8 –1.0 –2.3 –190 –1.0 .1

 Information...................................... –179 –7.4 2.8 36.3 .1 .3 –6,274 –7.2 2.2

 Financial activities......................... –308 –4.9 4.8 35.7 .2 .6 –9,798 –4.4 3.4

 Professional and business 

 services.......................................... –1,467 –9.9 22.7 34.8 –.1 –.3 –52,392 –10.1 18.1

 Education and health services... 610 3.8 –9.4 32.6 –.4 –1.2 13,156 2.5 –4.5

 Leisure and hospitality................ –406 –3.4 6.3 25.3 –.6 –2.4 –17,210 –5.7 5.9

 Other services................................. –103 –2.2 1.6 30.9 –.5 –1.6 –5,430 –3.8 1.9

Table 2.

recession than during the earlier two downturns. The average workweek in the service sector fell by 0.3 percent 

during the 1990–91 recession; the drop quadrupled to 1.2 

percent in the most recent recession. Comparing hours in 

service-producing industries in all three recessions reveals 

that, among the service-producing industries, the percent 

decrease in the workweek for education and health services, transportation and warehousing, and the catchall 

category of other services was greater in the 2007–09 recession than in the other two recessions.

Professional and business services exhibited a smaller 

drop in average weekly hours during the 2007–09 recession than during the 2001 recession. However, when job 

loss is taken into account, aggregate weekly hours for 

production workers in professional and business services 

fell by 9.7 percent in the recent recession, the greatest 

percent loss among all private service industries and a 

larger decline than in all other recessions.

Interesting trends emerge from a comparison of the 

decreases in aggregate weekly hours by industry for the 

three recessions. (See table 3.) Financial activities, a 

prominent player in the most recent recession, was not 

immune from the business cycle: from December 2007 

to June 2009, aggregate hours in the industry decreased 

by 4.4 percent, much weaker than the modest growth 

seen in the previous two recessions. In the construction 

and retail trade industries, the fall in aggregate weekly 

hours during the 2007–09 recession was greater than the 

1990–91 decline in each of those industries and greater 

still than the decreases they experienced during the 2001 

recession.

The industries that brought down the total private 

average workweek during the most recent recession 

were mostly the same ones that did so in the past. 

Manufacturing, construction, professional and business 

services, and retail trade were largely responsible for the 

decrease in the workweek in both the 2007–09 recession 

and the 1990–91 recession. Manufacturing and professional and business services accounted for a majority of 

the fall in total private average weekly hours during the 

2001 recession.

Work hours after the recession 

Since reaching a trough of 33.7 hours in October 2009, 

the average number of hours worked per week by all priSOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The 2007–09 Recession: Hours Decline

58 Monthly Labor Review • April 2011

Changes in aggregate weekly hours of nonsupervisory and production employees from beginning to 

end of recession, three recessions, by industry, 1990–2009

Industry

1990–91 recession 2001 recession 2007–09 recession

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

Change 

in level 

(thousands)

Percent 

change

Change in 

percent 

distribution

Total private............................... –59,804 –2.4 100.0 –83,170 –2.7 100.0 –289,548 –9.0 100.0

 Goods producing ................. –41,396 –6.0 69.2 –45,494 –6.3 54.7 –143,502 –21.7 49.6

 Mining and logging.......... –445 –1.8 .7 –496 –2.4 .6 –3,892 –15.2 1.3

 Construction ....................... –13,799 –8.8 23.1 –4,184 –2.0 5.0 –55,505 –24.5 19.2

 Manufacturing ................... –26,924 –5.2 45.0 –41,284 –8.4 49.6 –82,711 –20.3 28.6

 Service providing .................. –13,419 –.7 22.4 –35,542 –1.5 42.7 –142,058 –5.5 49.1

 Wholesale trade ................. –1,671 –1.0 2.8 –4,593 –2.6 5.5 –17,948 –9.6 6.2

 Retail trade........................... –9,233 –2.7 15.4 –4,102 –1.0 4.9 –31,412 –7.8 10.8

 Transportation and 

 warehousing.................... –1,281 –1.2 2.1 –8,127 –5.8 9.8 –14,567 –10.0 5.0

 Utilities.................................. –191 –.8 .3 –451 –2.2 .5 –190 –1.0 .1

 Information.......................... –206 –.3 .3 –3,090 –3.3 3.7 –6,274 –7.2 2.2

 Financial activities............. 316 .2 –.5 1,428 .7 –1.7 –9,798 –4.4 3.4

 Professional and

 business services........... –6,445 –2.1 10.8 –26,103 –5.5 31.4 –52,392 –10.1 18.1

 Education and health 

 services............................. 9,900 3.2 –16.6 11,434 2.6 –13.7 13,156 2.5 –4.5

 Leisure and hospitality.... –3,642 –1.7 6.1 –5,065 –1.8 6.1 –17,210 –5.7 5.9

 Other services..................... –650 –.6 1.1 2,097 1.5 –2.5 –5430 –3.8 1.9

Table 3.

 Chart 3. Index of aggregate weekly hours, all private nonsupervisory and production employees, 

seasonally adjusted

Index

(first month of

recession = 0)

102

100

98

96

94

92

90

–6 –4 –2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 

102

100

98

96

94

92

90

2007–09 recession

1990–91 recession

2001 recession

Index

(first month of

recession = 0)

Number of months since beginning of recession

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Monthly Labor Review • April 2011 59

vate sector employees has rebounded to 34.3 hours, or 0.4 

hour below the level observed at the start of the recession. In response to the increase in economic activity seen 

since the third quarter of 2009, employers have exhibited 

a tendency to extend the average workweek, as opposed 

to expanding payroll employment to match increased 

demand.6 Still, even with the steady progress of average 

weekly hours now being made toward reaching prerecession levels, growth in aggregate weekly hours has been 

much slower: through December 2010, aggregate weekly 

hours remained 7.7 percent below the December 2007 

level. (See chart 3.)

Notes

1 Recessions are identified by the National Bureau of Economic 

Research (NBER). For information, see “Information on Recessions and Recoveries, the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, 

and related topics” (Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic 

Research, updated daily), http://www.nber.org/cycles/main.html

(visited Dec. 13, 2010). The data on employment, hours, and earnings 

used in this article are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) 

survey, a monthly survey of about 140,000 nonfarm businesses and 

government agencies representing about 440,000 establishments. For 

more information on the survey’s concepts and methodology, see BLS

Handbook of Methods, chapter 2, “Employment, Hours, and Earnings 

from the Establishment Survey” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, no 

date), http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch2.pdf (visited Dec. 

13, 2010). To access CES data, see “Current Employment Statistics 

- CES (National)” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, no date), http://

www.bls.gov/ces (visited Dec. 13, 2010). Data used in this article are 

seasonally adjusted unless otherwise noted.

2 The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association. To access the Board’s coincident and 

leading index data, see “Global Business Cycle Indicators,” http://

www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=1 (visited Apr. 

11, 2011).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces data on hours and earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees in the private sector. 

The definition of “production and nonsupervisory employees” varies by 

industry. Employment, hours, and earnings estimates are for production employees in manufacturing and in mining and logging, construction workers in construction, and nonsupervisory employees in private 

service-providing industries. Production workers as a percentage of 

all workers have remained fairly constant, at about 80 percent over 

the years. Therefore, it is safe to assume that employment trends of 

production workers track overall employment trends in each industry 

supersector. (See chart 2; see also North American Industry Classification System: United States, 1997 (U.S. Census Bureau, 1997), and North 

American Industry Classification System, 2002 (U.S. Census Bureau, 

2002), for a definition of “supersector.”

3 Aggregate weekly hours for production workers are defined analogously to aggregate weekly hours for all employees. Aggregate weekly 

hours for production workers is the product of average weekly hours 

for production workers and number of production workers.

4 Material on the industry-level analysis of hours in this paragraph 

is taken largely from Julie Hatch Maxfield, “Jobs in 2005: How do they 

compare with their March 2001 counterparts,” Monthly Labor Review, 

July 2006, pp. 15–26 (see especially pp. 17–18), http://www.bls.gov/

opub/mlr/2006/07/art2full.pdf.

5 For more information about employment in manufacturing, see 

Megan M. Barker, “Manufacturing employment hard hit during the 

2007–09 recession,” this issue, pp. 28–33.

6 The Bureau of Economic Analysis produces and publishes estimates of gross domestic product. Real gross domestic product has been 

increasing steadily since the third quarter of 2009. For more information, see “National Income and Product Accounts Table” (Bureau 

of Economic Analysis, Mar. 25, 2011), http://www.bea.gov/national/

nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=5&FirstYear=2009&LastYear

=2010&Freq=Qtr.