Productivity in the manufacturing sector rose by 3.1 percent in Japan and 2.9 percent in Sweden. Productivity growth in U.S. manufacturing was higher in 1999 than in 1998 the percent change in 1998 was 4.9 percent. In seven of the other nine countries, the rate of productivity growth was also higher in 1999 than 1998. The exceptions were Germany, where productivity growth went from 3.5 percent in 1998 to 1.4 percent in 1999, and Norway, where productivity growth went from 0.8 percent in 1998 to 0.0 percent in 1999. These data are a product of the BLS Foreign Labor Statistics program.
Data are preliminary and subject to revision.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor .