Nuts and bolts industry

Output per employee hour in the bolts, nuts, screws, rivets, and washers industry increased at an average annual rate of percent between, according to a new Bureau of Labor Statistics industry labor productivity measure. Output increased by percent a year over this period, while employee hours inched up at the rate of percent annually.
The relatively low annual average increase in labor productivity for the industry over the period, however, masks a pattern of accelerating productivity growth. During the period, annual changes in industry output were often matched by changes in employee hours. From the late through the early, however, both industry employment and employee hours declined faster than industry output declined, resulting in productivity increases. Faced with ebbing demand for domestically produced bolts and nuts caused primarily by growing competition from imports, many establishments especially those employing workers or more shuttered their gates.
During the period, industry output increased at a percent annual rate, primarily reflecting large gains in the output of small sized establishments. Employee hours, however, increased by only percent per year. Much of this improvement in output per employee hour stemmed from the growing use of more versatile and higher capacity bolt forming machinery, improvements in machine durability, advances in bolt and nut design, and shifts in production processes. Because demand for the industrys products is closely tied to activity in durable goods-manufacturing industries, year to year changes in output and employee hours tended to reflect general economic conditions. During the recession, for example, the industrys output declined by about percent, while employee hours fell by almost percent.