Productivity and Labor Cost Report for Q2, 2006 Released Today (Preliminary)

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning released its quarterly report on Non-farm Productivity and Unit Labor Costs for the second-quarter of 2006 (preliminary data):

Non-farm Productivity
Consensus: +0.9 %
Actual: +1.1 %

Unit Labor Costs
Consensus: +3.8 %
Actual: +4.2 %

The above percentages represent the quarter-to-quarter change in non-farm productivity and unit labor costs.

For non-farm productivity, a positive number represents an improvement in the efficiency of producing domestic goods and services in the U.S., and therefore can signify a favorable inflationary outlook, and vice versa.

The Unit Labor Costs report measures the costs related to producing each unit of output. A positive number can be a harbinger of rising inflation, and vice versa.

The "consensus" is what economists and Wall Street forecasters were expecting, while the "actual" is the actual or real figure.

Click here to view the full Labor Department report (PDF.)

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