Labor productivity -defined as output per hour -increased in the wholesale sector in 2007 by 2.1 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unit labor costs increased as well.
 
Between 1987 and 2007, labor productivity in wholesale trade increased at a 3.3 percent average annual rate.
 
2006-2007
Output per hour grew in 12 of 19 detailed wholesale trade industries in 2007. (See table below.) Commercial equipment wholesalers experienced the largest productivity gain, 13.7 percent.
 
Sectors seeing decreases were motor vehicles and parts, lumber and construction supplies, metals and minerals, druggists’goods and miscellaneous durable and nondurable goods.
 
Unit labor costs fell in seven …