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OverviewMissionTwo programs develop productivity and cost data for elements of the U.S. economy. The Major Sector Productivity and Costs program develops quarterly labor productivity measures for the major U.S. economic sectors including the business sector, the nonfarm business sector, nonfinancial corporations, and manufacturing, along with subsectors of durable and nondurable goods manufacturing. The Industry Productivity program publishes annual measures for output per hour and unit labor costs for 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries in the U.S., featuring complete coverage in manufacturing, retail trade, and in wholesale trade. There is also nearly complete coverage in mining and accommodations and food services, as well as additional coverage in other sectors. Program measures cover over 55 percent of employment in the nonfarm business sector of the economy. These industry labor productivity measures are updated annually. Measures for additional industries are published as their development is completed. Indexes of labor productivity show changes in the ratio of output to hours of labor input. These measures are used in economic analysis, public and private policy making, and forecasting and analysis of prices, wages, and technological change. However, labor productivity measures should not be interpreted as presenting the contribution of labor to production. Rather, changes over time in the output or labor input may reflect the influence of other factors including variations in the characteristics and efforts of the work-force, changes in the managerial skill, changes in the organization of production, changes in the allocation of resources between sectors, the direct and indirect effects of research and development, and new technology. Other productivity measures produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics include multifactor productivity measures for the major sectors of the U.S. economy and for 20 2-digit SIC manufacturing industries; for 140 3-digit SIC manufacturing industries, the railroad transportation industry (SIC 4011), and the utility and gas industry (SIC 49); and a set of comparative trend measures of multifactor productivity for the manufacturing sectors of the United States, France, and Germany. Multifactor productivity measures compare output to a combined set of inputs. These measures were developed initially in 1983 and reflect the role inputs other than labor play in output growth. Annual labor productivity measures are also available for the manufacturing sectors of eleven foreign countries. BackgroundDescription of MeasuresThe Bureau of Labor Statistics produces three sets of labor productivity measures: major sector measures, selected industry measures, and foreign country measures. For the major sectors, output, measured net of price change and inter-industry transactions, is compared to labor input, measured as hours at work in the sector. Output per hour and related measures of compensation per hour and unit labor costs are maintained for business and nonfarm business from 1947 to the present. Similar measures are also available for manufacturing (total, durable, and nondurable sectors) and for nonfinancial corporations. These measures are available quarterly and are updated and revised eight times a year. For selected industries, output per hour (labor productivity) and unit labor costs are maintained. These measures are updated annually. CoverageQuarterly labor productivity measures are available for the:
Annual labor productivity measures for selected industries are available for:
DataData Available
Data SourcesBusiness sector output is an annual-weighted index constructed after excluding from gross domestic product (GDP) the following outputs: General government, nonprofit institutions, paid employees of private households, and the rental value of owner-occupied dwellings. Corresponding exclusions also are made in labor inputs. The nonfarm business sector output also excludes the farm sector. Gross domestic product data are prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce as part of the National Income and Product Accounts. Annual manufacturing output indexes are constructed by deflating the current-dollar industry value of production data from the Bureau of the Census with deflators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Quarterly manufacturing output measures are based on the index of industrial production prepared monthly by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, adjusted to be consistent with the annual indexes of manufacturing sector output prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For industry productivity measures, output indexes are constructed in a manner similar to the manufacturing output series above. Different products are aggregated into one output measure by weighting (multiplying) the relative change in the output of each product by its share in the total value of output. Output measures are adjusted for changes in inventories and intra-industry shipments. A more thorough discussion of the output data underlying major sector and industry labor productivity measures are available in Chapter 10, "Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors," and Chapter 11, "Industry Productivity Measures," of the BLS Handbook of Methods, pp. 89-109. Hours and employment data are primarily drawn from the BLS Current Employment Statistics program, which provides monthly survey data on total employment and average weekly hours of production and nonsupervisory workers in nonagricultural establishments. Jobs rather than persons are counted. Weekly paid hours are adjusted to hours at work using the BLS Hours at Work Survey (HWS) PDF (12K) conducted for this purpose. How to view a PDF file. Data from the BLS Current Population Survey are used for farm labor. In the nonfarm sector, the National Income and Product Accounts prepared by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce and the CPS are used to measure labor input for government enterprises, proprietors, and unpaid family workers. For the industry productivity measures, for manufacturing industries, the nonproduction worker hours are developed, similar to the quarterly measures, from BLS studies, which provided data on the regularly scheduled workweek of white collar workers. For nonmanufacturing industries, supervisory worker average weekly hours are a constant and total hours vary according the changes in employment. A more detailed discussion of the labor data are available in Chapter 10, "Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors," and Chapter 11, "Industry Productivity Measures," of the BLS Handbook of Methods, pp. 89-109. Reference period
MethodologyThe estimation procedures used in constructing the underlying data series and the various quarterly and industry labor productivity measures are described in the BLS Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2490, April 1997. "Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors," Chapter 10 of the BLS Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2490, April 1997, pp. 89-102, pertains to labor productivity measures for business, nonfarm business, manufacturing, and nonfinancial corporations. "Industry Productivity Measures," Chapter 11 of the BLS Handbook of Methods, BLS Bulletin 2490, April 1997, pp. 103-109. The BLS Handbook of Methods is available at a cost of $20.00 from the U.S. General Printing Office and may be ordered by contacting the GPO by mail or phone (202-512-1800) with your request. The GPO stock number for this bulletin is 029-001-03265-0.
Publications
On the Internet
"Productivity and Costs", issued quarterly.
Other Publication Sources
Last Modified Date: November 26, 2003 |
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