Our examples in the chapter have focused on manufacturing, where the output is units of product and the inputs are manufacturing activities or costs. The concept of productivity can be applied in a variety of settings, wherever there are inputs and outputs. For example, consider LandscapeCity, a landscape design company that specializes in small landscape projects for people living in cities. Amanda Caldwell, the assistant manager, is in the process of trying to determine if productivity has been improving since she was hired 6 months ago. Because it is a design firm, labor is the only significant expense, but Amanda is unsure if the number of projects or the dollar of sales volume should be used when computing productivity. She has collected these data for sales and labor expenses for the past 6 months:

Month	Labor Expense	Number of Projects	Sales Dollars
1	$ 25,670	53	$ 21,990
2	37,440	78	23,800
3	21,292	70	30,680
4	15,094	16	20,460
5	15,826	21	23,580
6	22,492	70	23,420

Required:

1. Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using number of projects as the measure of output. (Round your answers to 4 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.)

Month	Labor Expense	Number of Projects	Productivity	Monthly Change
1	$25,670	53
2	$37,440	78
3	$21,292	70
4	$15,094	16
5	$15,826	21
6	$22,492	70

2. Calculate the productivity for each month and the change in productivity from month to month using sales dollars as the measure of output. (Round your answers to 4 decimal places. Negative amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.)

Month	Labor Expense	Sales Dollars	Productivity	Monthly Change
1	$25,670	$21,990
2	$37,440	$23,800
3	$21,292	$30,680
4	$15,094	$20,460
5	$15,826	$23,580
6	$22,492	$23,420