Chemical industry productivity rose again Increased chemical output and more efficient use of production labor drove chemical industry productivity higher again last year. But at the same time, higher wages increased unit labor costs. In fact, after the government revised its production and employment data, new calculations showed that despite massive reductions in chemical employment, unit labor costs had fallen in only four out of the past 10 years.
Productivity is an index measuring the amount of production for each unit of labor.
The unit labor cost index measures the labor cost per unit of output. Ideally, the productivity index should rise and the unit labor cost index should fall. However, growth of hourly production wages in the chemical industry outstripped that of productivity, driving unit labor costs up slightly last year.