Manufacturing labor productivity grew in all 11 of those countries, topped by France at 6.8 percent. Labor productivity measures output per hour, accounting for changes in both output and hours worked. In 1997, hours worked increased in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Hours worked decreased in the remaining countries, so that their overall labor productivity growth rates were larger than their growth rates in output.
Labor productivity grows faster when more output is produced in fewer hours.
These data are a product of the BLS Foreign Labor Statistics program. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor .