Full text of U.S. Financial Data : March 7, 2002

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March 7, 2002

USFinancialData
THE WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS:
■ Output per hour (labor productivity) in the nonfarm business
sector grew at a revised 5.2 percent annual rate during the fourth
quarter of 2001. The previous estimate pegged fourth-quarter
growth at 3.5 percent. With hourly compensation unchanged,
growth of unit labor costs were revised downward accordingly
from –1.1 percent to –2.7 percent. During 2001 (fourth quarter to
fourth quarter), labor productivity rose 2 percent, the weakest
growth since 1995 (1.2 percent).
■ For the week ending March 2, initial claims for state unemployment
benefits totaled 376,000, which was a decline of 5,000 from four
weeks earlier. The four-week moving average of initial claims
totaled 372,750, a decrease of 8,750 from four weeks earlier.
■ In January, the nominal value of new orders to manufacturers
increased 1.6 percent, while the value of their shipments of
finished products increased 2 percent. New orders and shipments
both rose for the third time in the past four months. The value of
manufacturers’ unfilled orders fell 1.4 percent in January, the third
consecutive monthly decline and the largest since September 2001.
■ In January, real personal consumption expenditures (PCE)
increased 0.3 percent, or 3.1 percent at an annual rate. Real
disposable personal income (DPI), though, advanced at an 18.9
percent rate in January. Measured from a year earlier, real DPI is
up 3.6 percent, while real PCE is up 2.8 percent. The PCE chaintype price index increased at a 1.5 percent rate in January, up 0.6
percent from a year earlier.

All data are seasonally adjusted unless otherwise indicated.
U.S. Financial Data is published weekly by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of
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Information in this publication is also included in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) data base
on the internet at www.stls.frb.org/fred.