Factory orders - 10:00am

Full report here HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS' SHIPMENTS, INVENTORIES, AND ORDERS July 2009 --------------- Released 10:00 A.M. EDT September 2, 2009 (M3-2(09)-07) Note: All figures in text are in seasonally adjusted current dollars For Data - (301) 763-4673 For Questions - Chris Savage or Jessica Young (301) 763-4832 Summary New orders for manufactured goods in July, up five of the last six months, increased $4.6 billion or 1.3 percent to $355.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 0.9 percent June increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.7 percent. Shipments, down eleven of the last twelve months, decreased $0.2 billion to $359.7 billion. This followed a 1.8 percent June increase. Unfilled orders, down ten consecutive months, decreased $0.1 billion to $740.6 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992. This followed a 0.8 percent June decrease. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 5.95, down from 6.00 in June. Inventories, down eleven consecutive months, decreased $3.6 billion or 0.7 percent to $503.1 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since March 2003-January 2004 and followed a 1.1 percent June decrease. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.40, down from 1.41 in June. New Orders New orders for manufactured durable goods in July, up three of the last four months, increased $8.2 billion or 5.1 percent to $169.0 billion, revised from the previously published 4.9 percent increase. This followed a 1.1 percent June decrease. New orders for manufactured nondurable goods decreased $3.6 billion or 1.9 percent to $186.5 billion. Shipments Shipments of manufactured durable goods in July, up two consecutive months, increased $3.4 billion or 2.0 percent to $173.3 billion, unchanged from the previously published increase. This followed a 0.8 percent June increase. Shipments of manufactured nondurable goods, down following two consecutive monthly increases, decreased $3.6 billion or 1.9 percent to $186.5 billion. This followed a 2.8 percent June increase. This decrease was led by petroleum and coal products, which decreased $2.7 billion or 7.2 percent to $34.3 billion. Unfilled Orders Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in July, down ten consecutive months, decreased $0.1 billion to $740.6 billion, revised from the previously published 0.1 percent decrease. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.8 percent June decrease. Inventories Inventories of manufactured durable goods in July, down seven consecutive months, decreased $2.9 billion or 0.9 percent to $313.7 billion, revised from the previously published 0.8 percent decrease. This followed a 1.5 percent June decrease. Inventories of manufactured nondurable goods, down eleven consecutive months, decreased $0.7 billion or 0.4 percent to $189.4 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent June decrease. Plastic and rubber products led the decrease, down $0.4 billion or 2.0 percent to $18.9 billion. By stage of fabrication, July materials and supplies decreased 1.8 percent in durable goods and increased 0.7 percent in nondurable goods. Work in process decreased 0.1 percent in durable goods and 0.8 percent in nondurable goods. Finished goods decreased 1.1 percent in durable goods and 1.0 percent in nondurable goods.

Productivity and costs - 8:30am

Full report here Transmission of this material is embargoed until USDL-09-1066 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Technical information: (202) 691-5606 • dprweb@bls.gov • www.bls.gov/lpc Media contact: (202) 691-5902 • PressOffice@bls.gov PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS Second Quarter 2009, Revised Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 6.6 percent annual rate during the second quarter of 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was the largest productivity increase since the third quarter of 2003, and reflects declines of 1.5 percent in output and 7.6 percent in hours worked. (All quarterly percent changes in this release are seasonally adjusted annual rates.) From the second quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, output fell 5.5 percent while hours fell 7.2 percent, yielding an increase in productivity of 1.9 percent (tables A and 2). Nonfarm business productivity increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent from 2000 through 2008. Labor productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours of all persons, including employees, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. Unit labor costs in nonfarm businesses fell 5.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009, with the decline due entirely to the increase in productivity; hourly compensation increased slightly. Unit labor costs declined 1.2 percent over the last four quarters, as a 1.9 percent increase in output per hour was partially offset by a 0.7 percent increase in hourly compensation (tables A and 2). BLS defines unit labor costs as the ratio of hourly compensation to labor productivity; increases in hourly compensation tend to increase unit labor costs and increases in output per hour tend to reduce them. Productivity increased 6.5 percent in the business sector in the second quarter of 2009. Unit labor costs decreased 6.0 percent during the second quarter of 2009 (tables A and 1). Manufacturing sector productivity grew 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009, as output fell 9.8 percent and hours worked decreased 14.0 percent; declines in output and hours were much larger in durable goods industries than in nondurable goods industries (tables A, 3, 4 and 5). The productivity gain in the manufacturing sector was the largest since the first quarter of 2005. Unit labor costs in manufacturing edged up 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2009 and increased 6.7 percent over the last four quarters (tables A and 3). The data sources and methods used in the preparation of the manufacturing output series differ from those used in preparing the business and nonfarm business output series, and these measures are not directly comparable. See Technical Notes for further information on data sources. Revised measures Table B presents previous and revised productivity and related measures for the major sectors: business, nonfarm business and manufacturing, for the first and second quarters of 2009. In the second quarter of 2009, nonfarm business productivity was revised up by 0.2 percentage point from the estimate published on August 11, reflecting a 0.2 percentage point upward revision to output; hours were not revised. Unit labor costs were revised down by 0.1 percentage point in the second quarter. In the manufacturing sector, productivity was revised down by 0.4 percentage point in the second quarter. In the first quarter of 2009, nonfarm business productivity was not revised. Unit labor costs fell 5.0 percent rather than decreasing 2.7 percent as previously reported, due to a 2.3 percent downward revision to hourly compensation. In the manufacturing sector, first quarter productivity was unrevised. Unit labor costs were revised down by 2.6 percentage points. From the first quarter of 1987, unit labor costs, hourly compensation, and real hourly compensation were revised in the manufacturing sector and its subsectors. This was the result of addressing a series break between 2000 and 2001 in the manufacturing compensation series published on August 11. The SIC-based data prior to 2001 have been linked to the NAICS-based series. This revision eliminates the break in series at 2001 for the manufacturing sector data based on compensation; percent changes in 2001 were revised substantially. There were small revisions to percent changes in other years and quarters. Because the base year for the indexes (1992) was adjusted, index values for the entire series were subject to revision. Revised quarterly and annual series for recent years appear in tables 3-5 and revised annual indexes are displayed in appendix tables 1-3. Full historical annual and quarterly measures can be found on the productivity and costs home page https://www.bls.gov/lpc/#data.

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ADP Employment report - 8:15am

Full report here ADP NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT REPORT SHOWS U.S. EMPLOYMENT DECREASED BY 298,000 PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS IN AUGUST ROSELAND, N.J. – September 2, 2009 – According to today’s ADP National Employment Report®, private sector employment decreased by 298,000 in August. The ADP National Employment Report, created by ADP® Employer Services, a division of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), in partnership with Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, is derived from actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month. Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights – August Report: • Total employment: -298,000 • Small businesses* -122,000 • Medium businesses** -116,000 • Large businesses*** -60,000 • Goods-producing sector: -152,000 • Service-providing sector: -146,000 Addendum: • Manufacturing industry: -74,000 * Small businesses represent payrolls with 1-49 employees ** Medium businesses represent payrolls with 50-499 employees *** Large businesses represent payrolls with more than 499 employees According to Joel Prakken, Chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, LLC, “Nonfarm private employment decreased 298,000 from July to August 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report. August’s employment decline was the smallest since September of 2008. Employment losses are clearly diminishing. Despite recent indications that overall economic activity is stabilizing, employment, which usually trails overall economic activity, is still likely to decline for at least several more months, albeit at a diminishing rate.” Prakken added, “August’s ADP Report estimates nonfarm private employment in the service-providing sector fell by 146,000. Employment in the goods-producing sector declined 152,000, with employment in the manufacturing sector dropping 74,000, its smallest monthly decline since July of 2008.” “Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment decline by 60,000, while medium-size businesses with between 50 and 499 workers declined 116,000. Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, declined 122,000,” said Prakken. Prakken went on to say, “In August, construction employment dropped 73,000. This was its thirty-first consecutive monthly decline, and brings the total decline in construction jobs since the peak in January 2007 to 1,562,000. Employment in the financial services sector dropped 19,000, the twenty-first consecutive monthly decline.”

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