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Internet address:
http://www.bls.gov/mfp USDL 02-128
Historical, technical
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
information: (202) 691-5606 For Release: 10:00 AM EST
Media contact: (202) 691-5902
MULTIFACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRENDS, 2000
Private Business and Private Nonfarm Business
From 1999 to 2000, multifactor productivity rose 1.9 percent in the private
business sector and 1.8 percent in the private nonfarm business sector, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported.
Multifactor productivity increased for the ninth consecutive year in both the
private business and private nonfarm business sectors. The 1999-2000 rates of
increase were the highest since 1992. The 2000 annual changes are summarized
in table A, and further detail and historical measures are shown in tables 1
through 6. Manufacturing multifactor productivity measures are not yet
available for 2000.

Chart 1 shows the annual indexes of multifactor productivity, output per hour
worked, and output per unit of capital services for the 1948-2000 period for
private business. Over the last 50 years, capital services have grown more
rapidly than hours in the private business sector, and the skills of workers
as measured by their education and work experience also have risen over this
period. These shifts toward more capital intensive production and workers with
more human capital have supplemented multifactor productivity growth, allowing
output per hour to grow at a faster rate than multifactor productivity.
However, short-term fluctuations of multifactor productivity and output per
hour generally move in the same direction.
Multifactor productivity is designed to measure the joint influences on
economic growth of technological change, efficiency improvements, returns
to scale, reallocation of resources, and other factors. Multifactor
productivity, therefore, differs from the labor productivity (output per
hour) measures that are published quarterly by BLS since it requires
information on capital services and other data that are not available on a
quarterly basis.
Private business and private nonfarm business
In private business and private nonfarm business, the change in multifactor
productivity reflects the difference between the change in real gross domestic
product for the sector and the change in labor and capital inputs engaged in
the production of this output. The output measures for private business and
private nonfarm business are similar to the indexes of output for business and
nonfarm business used in the quarterly labor productivity measures, but omit
the output of government enterprises.
A change in multifactor productivity reflects the change in output that cannot
be accounted for by the change in combined inputs of labor and capital. In
contrast, a change in labor productivity reflects the change in output that

cannot be accounted for by the change in hours of all persons engaged in
production.
Changes in 1999-2000
Private business sector
Multifactor productivity rose 1.9 percent in 2000, the fastest rate of increase
since 1992. Multifactor productivity has not declined since the recession year
of 1991. The multifactor productivity gain in 2000 reflected a 4.6 percent
increase in output and a 2.7 percent increase in the combined inputs of capital
and labor. By comparison, in 1999, the rate of increase in output was nearly
the same, 4.7 percent, while combined inputs grew at the considerably faster
rate of 3.8 percent.
In 2000, capital services continued to grow rapidly, 5.9 percent, approximately
the same as in 1998 (6.1 percent) and 1999 (6.0 percent). In these three
years, capital services grew at the most rapid rates since the series began in
1948. Labor input growth in 2000, however, slowed to 1.1 percent. As a
result, growth in the capital-labor ratio (capital services per hour of all
persons) was the largest since 1982 (table 3). Equipment and inventories grew
more rapidly than other asset categories (table 5). Equipment posted its
second largest growth rate ever, 10.2 percent, down only slightly from the
all-time high of 10.3 percent in 1999. The growth in equipment had accelerated
throughout the 1992-2000 period. Within equipment, capital services of
information equipment and software continued to increase sharply in 2000
(table 5). The largest increase continued to be in computers and related
equipment, 43.5 percent.
Labor input grew by 1.1 percent in 2000, its smallest increase since 1992.
Labor input reflects the change in hours at work, adjusted for the effects
of changing labor composition. Changes in hours at work reflect the combined
effects of changes in the average workweek and employment. As is typical
during the latter stages of an expansion, employment fueled almost all of the
increase in labor input growth. The labor composition component was
essentially unchanged from 1999, while the workweek declined sharply.
In contrast, employment rose 1.8 percent in 2000, only a slightly smaller
increase than the 1.9 percent growth rate of 1999. The slow growth of labor
input, therefore, was mostly due to the decline in the workweek.
Table A. Productivity and related data, percent changes, 1999-2000
Private Private
Business1 Nonfarm
Business1
Productivity
Multifactor Productivity2
Output per hour of all persons
Output per unit of capital services
Output
Inputs
Labor input3

4.6
1.1

1.9
3.5
-1.3
4.5
1.1

1.8
3.4
-1.5

Hours
1.1
1.1
Labor Composition4
0.0
0.0
Capital services
5.9
6.1
Combined units of labor and capital inputs5 2.7
Analytic ratio:
Capital services per hour of all persons

4.8

2.7
5.0

1. Excludes government enterprises.
2. Output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs.
3. Index of hours worked; hours worked by education and experience group
are weighted by each group's share of labor compensation.
4. Ratio of labor input to hours.
5. Labor input index combined with capital service input index,
weighted by labor's and capital's shares of nominal output.

Labor productivity (output per hour worked) increased 3.5 percent in 2000.
This was the largest increase since 1992, and was entirely due to the slow
growth in hours worked, 1.1 percent. Capital productivity (output per unit
of capital services) fell 1.3 percent, the third straight year of decline and
the lowest rate since 1991.
Private nonfarm business
Multifactor productivity in the private nonfarm business sector increased by
1.8 percent in 2000, the largest rate of increase since 1992. Output grew 4.5
percent, and the growth of combined units of capital and labor inputs was 2.7
percent. By comparison, in 1999, output increased 4.6 percent and combined
inputs rose 4.0 percent. Labor input grew 1.1 percent in 2000; as in the
private business sector, the slow growth of labor input was due primarily to
the decline in the workweek. Capital services growth was 6.1 percent. Over
the most recent three years, capital services showed the largest overall gains
since the series began in 1948. The fastest growing component of capital
services was equipment (table 6). Capital services of information processing
equipment and software continued to increase sharply. Once again, the largest
increase was in computers and related equipment, 43.6 percent in 2000.
Labor productivity grew 3.4 percent in 2000, and capital productivity dipped
1.5 percent. In 2000, capital services per hour increased at its highest
rate since 1982, posting a 5.0 percent gain.
Long-term trends in private business and private nonfarm business
Labor productivity (output per hour) differs from multifactor productivity
(output per unit of combined capital and labor inputs) in the treatment of
both capital and hours. Labor productivity measures do not explicitly account
for the effects of capital or of changes in the composition of labor on output
growth. As a result, changes in capital intensity (the capital-hours ratio)
and labor composition can influence labor productivity growth. In contrast,
multifactor productivity treats capital as an explicit factor of production
and, therefore, is net of changes in capital intensity. In addition, the
labor input measure used to calculate multifactor productivity reflects the
combined effects of changes in hours at work and of shifts in the educational

attainment and experience of the work force. Therefore, multifactor
productivity accounts for changes in labor composition as well. Long-term
labor productivity growth can be viewed as the sum of three components:
multifactor productivity growth, the contribution of increased capital
intensity, and the contribution of shifts in labor composition (table B and
chart 2).
The contribution of capital intensity equals the change in the capital-hours
ratio multiplied by capital's share of total payments to inputs. The
contribution of labor composition equals the difference between the growth
rate of labor input and the growth rate of hours multiplied by labor's share
of total payments. Historically, capital's share has been slightly less than
one-third of the total payments.
Private Business Sector
Over the entire 1948 to 2000 period, output per hour grew at an annual rate of
2.5 percent in private business (table B). Of the 2.5 percent growth rate in
labor productivity, 1.4 percent can be attributed to increases in multifactor
productivity, 0.9 percent to the contribution of capital intensity, and 0.2
percent to changes in labor composition. The contribution of capital
intensity is composed of the contribution of information processing equipment
and software (0.3 percent) and of the contribution of other types of capital
(0.6 percent). Information processing equipment and software is composed of
computers and related equipment, communications equipment, instruments and
photocopying equipment, and software. Investment in these forms of capital
were small prior to 1979 but has grown to nearly half of all investment in
recent years.
In the 1948-1973 period, labor productivity, or output per hour, in private
industry had a growth rate of 3.3 percent, greater than the average for the
entire 1948-2000 period. This reflected strong growth in multifactor
productivity (2.1 percent) combined with average contributions of capital
intensity (0.9 percent) and labor composition (0.2 percent).
After 1973, productivity growth slowed down (table B and chart 2). From
1973 to 1979, labor productivity rose only 1.3 percent per year. Gains in
multifactor productivity dropped to only 0.6 percent per year. At the same
time, the average annual contribution of capital intensity slowed to 0.7
percent, and labor composition made no contribution.
From 1979 to 1990, labor productivity increased at an annual average of 1.6
percent, slightly faster than during the previous period (1.3 percent) but
still relatively low. Multifactor productivity growth, at 0.5 percent, was
about the same as in 1973-1979 (0.6 percent). The contribution of capital
intensity inched up from 0.7 percent in 1973-1979 to 0.8 percent in 1979-1990,
as information processing equipment began to play an increasingly important
role, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the growth in capital intensity.
However, the slight improvement in labor productivity growth was due to the
change in the composition of the work force, which contributed 0.3 percent
to growth after contributing nothing in the previous period.
From 1990 to 1995, labor productivity advanced at an annual rate of 1.5
percent, 0.1 percentage point less than during the 1979-1990 period. Small
increases in the rates of growth in multifactor productivity and in the

contribution of labor composition were offset by a decline in the contribution
of capital services, from 0.8 percent in 1979-1990 to 0.5 percent in 1990-1995.
The slower rate of growth in labor productivity was due to the decline in the
contribution of capital services. However, information processing capital
continued to become important, contributing 80 percent of the increase in all
capital services.
From 1995-2000, output per hour rebounded to a 2.7 percent growth rate per
year, 1.2 percentage points more than during the 1990-1995 period. Most of
this acceleration could be attributed to faster multifactor productivity
growth, which more than doubled from 0.6 percent to 1.4 percent per year.
The remainder of the increase was due to a rise in the contribution of capital
services, from 0.5 percent to 1.1 percent; information processing capital
accounted for a large part of this increase. Continuing the trend in the
substitution of information processing equipment for other forms of capital,
information capital accounted for 82 percent of the contribution of all
capital.
Private nonfarm business sector
The trends of the various measures were similar in the private nonfarm
business sector to those in the private business sector in each period.
Therefore, the patterns of productivity slowdowns after 1973 and rebounds
after 1995 correspond closely in the two sectors.
Contribution of research and development to multifactor productivity in
private nonfarm business
While multifactor productivity reflects many influences, technological change
is one of the primary contributors. For private nonfarm business, BLS also
reports estimates of the impact on multifactor productivity growth of firms'
spending for research and development (R&D) on all firms within the same
industries. Because many people associate research and development spending
and the resulting technological improvements with productivity, multifactor
productivity has not been adjusted to exclude the effects of research and
development. The contribution of research and development averaged 0.2
percent per year for the entire 1948-2000 period, or about 15 percent of
total multifactor productivity growth (table B). The contribution of
research and development varied little over time, contributing 0.2 percent
per year during the 1948-73 period, 0.1 percent during the 1973-79 period
and 0.2 percent for all later periods.
Table B. Compound average annual rates of growth in output per hour of all
persons and the contributions of capital intensity, labor composition,
and multifactor productivity, by major sector, 1948 to 2000
(percent per year)
1948-00 1948-73 1973-79 1979-90 1990-95 1995-00
Private business1
Output per hour

of all persons
Contribution of
capital intensity2

2.5

3.3

0.9

0.9

Contribution of
information processing
equipment and software3
Contribution of all
other capital services

0.8

0.5

1.1

0.5
0.3

0.0

2.1

2.7

0.5

0.3

0.2

1.4

1.5

0.8

0.1

0.2

Multifactor productivity5

1.6

0.7

0.3

0.6

Contribution of
labor composition4

1.3

0.4
0.1

0.3

0.6

0.9
0.2

0.4

0.5

0.3

0.6

1.4

Private nonfarm business1
Output per hour
of all persons
Contribution of
capital intensity2

2.2

2.9

0.8

0.8

Contribution of
information processing
equipment and software3
Contribution of all
other capital services

Multifactor productivity5

0.2
1.2

Contribution of R&D to
multifactor productivity 0.2

1.4

0.7

0.3

0.5

Contribution of
labor composition4

1.2

0.8

0.1
0.7
0.2
1.9
0.2

1.6
0.5

0.3
0.5
0.0
0.4
0.1

2.6
1.1

0.5
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.2

0.4
0.1
0.4
0.6
0.2

0.9
0.2
0.3
1.2
0.2

1. Excludes government enterprises.
2. Growth rate in capital services per hour multiplied by capital's share of
current dollar costs.
3. Growth rate of information processing equipment and software multiplied
by its share of total costs.
4. Growth rate of labor composition (the growth rate of labor input less the
growth rate of the hours of all persons) multiplied by labor's share of
current dollar costs.
5. Output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs.
Note: The sum of multifactor productivity and the contributions
may not equal labor productivity due to independent rounding.

Revisions
Private business and private nonfarm business output series reflect the annual
revisions to the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), announced by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in August 2001.
The hours data in this release incorporate the results of the 2000 Hours at
Work survey. This survey is designed to measure the ratio of hours at work to
hours paid for production and nonsupervisory employees in nonagricultural
establishments. BLS converts hours paid from the Current Employment Statistics
program to hours at work using data from this survey. The results from the
2000 Hours at Work survey can be found at http://www.bls.gov/mfp/mprhws.pdf or
in print.
Labor composition measures have been updated through 2000. A brief
description, "Changes in the Composition of Labor for the BLS Multifactor
Productivity Measures," is available at http://www.bls.gov/mfp/mprlabor.pdf or
in print.
Comprehensive tables containing additional data beyond the scope of this press
release are available upon request, at http://www.bls.gov/mfp/mprdload.htm or
in print.
Summary of Methods
The following note describes the major data sources and the procedures used in
deriving BLS multifactor productivity indexes. More detailed information on
methods, limitations, and data sources is provided in BLS Bulletin 2178
(September 1983), "Trends in Multifactor Productivity, 1948-81." Additional
data not contained in the release can be obtained in print or at
http://www.bls.gov/mfp.
.

This release presents data for the private business and private nonfarm
business sectors. The private business sector, which accounts for about 76
percent of gross domestic product, includes all of gross domestic product
except the output of general government, government enterprises, non-profit
institutions, the rental value of owner-occupied real estate, and the output
of paid employees of private households. Additionally, the private nonfarm
business sector excludes farms, but includes agricultural services.
Multifactor measures exclude government enterprises, while the BLS quarterly
Productivity and Cost series includes them.
Multifactor productivity measures describe the relationship between output
in real terms and the inputs involved in its production. They do not measure
the specific contributions of labor, capital, or any other factor of
production. Rather, multifactor productivity is designed to measure the joint
influences on economic growth of technological change, efficiency improvements,
returns to scale, reallocation of resources due to shifts in factor inputs
across industries, and other factors.
The multifactor productivity indexes for private business and private nonfarm
business are derived by dividing an output index by an index of labor input

and capital services. The output indexes are computed as chained superlative
indexes (Fisher Ideal indexes) of components of real output. For the years
1948 to 2000, BEA supplies the output indexes. BLS adjusts these to eliminate
the output of government enterprises.
Capital input measures the services derived from the stock of physical assets
and software. The assets included are fixed business equipment, structures,
inventories, and land. Among equipment, BLS provides additional detail for
information processing equipment and software (IPES). IPES is composed of four
broad classes of assets: computers and related equipment, software,
communications equipment, and other IPES equipment. Computers and related
equipment includes mainframe computers, personal computers, printers, video
displays, and other related equipment. Software is comprised of pre-packaged,
custom, and own-account software. Communications equipment is not further
differentiated. Other IPES includes scientific and related equipment,
photocopying and related equipment, and office and accounting equipment.
Structures include nonresidential structures and residential capital that is
rented out by profit-making firms or persons.
Financial assets are excluded from capital input measures, as are
owner-occupied residential structures. The aggregate capital input measures
are obtained by Tornqvist aggregation of the capital stocks for each asset type
within each of 53 industries using estimated rental prices for each asset type.
Each rental price reflects the nominal rate of return to all assets within the
industry and rates of economic depreciation and revaluation for the specific
asset; rental prices are adjusted for the effects of taxes. Data on
investments in physical assets are obtained from BEA. Current-dollar gross
product originating (GPO) data, obtained from BEA, are used in estimating
capital rental prices. This news release makes use of revised GPO data,
released by BEA in October 2001.
Labor input in private business and private nonfarm business is obtained by
Tornqvist-aggregation of the hours worked by all persons, classified by
education, work experience, and gender with weights determined by their
shares of labor compensation. Hours paid of employees are obtained from
the Current Employment Statistics program. The hours at work of proprietors,
unpaid family workers, and farm employees are derived from the Current
Population Survey. The hours of employees are converted to an at-work basis
by using the Hours at Work survey. The growth rate of labor composition is
defined as the difference between the growth rate of weighted labor input and
the growth rate of the hours of all persons. Additional information concerning
data sources and methods of measuring labor composition can be found in BLS
Bulletin 2426 (December 1993), "Labor Composition and U.S. Productivity
Growth, 1948-90."
The labor and capital components of the input indexes are combined with
Tornqvist weights that represent each component's share of total costs.
Total costs are defined as the value of output (gross product originating)
less a portion of indirect business taxes. Most indirect taxes, such as excise
taxes, are excluded from costs; however, property and motor vehicle taxes
remain in total costs. The index uses changing weights: The share in each year
is averaged with the preceding year's share.
Research and development

The stock of research and development in private nonfarm business is derived by
cumulating constant dollar measures of research and development expenditures
and allowing for depreciation. Current dollar expenditures for privately
financed research and development for the years 1953-2000 are obtained from
annual issues of Research and Development in Industry published by the National
Science Foundation. BLS develops price deflators and estimates of the rate of
depreciation. Further description of these data and methods can be found in
BLS Bulletin 2331 (September 1989), "The Impact of Research and Development on
Productivity Growth."

Table 1. Private business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1948-20001								
								
Indexes 1996=100
Output					
Combined
per
Output Multi-			
units of
hour per factor		
Capital capital Capital
of all unit of ProductLabor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1948
1949

31.1 108.5
32.2 105.5

51.6 18.6 51.0 17.2 36.1 28.7
52.2 18.6 49.4 17.6 35.6 30.5

1950

35.0 111.7

56.0 20.5 50.3 18.3 36.5 31.3

1955

40.9 115.5

62.0 24.9 53.7 21.6 40.2 35.4

1960

45.6 112.0

65.5 27.5 54.0 24.6 42.1 40.7

1965
1966
1967
1968
1969

55.9 123.3
58.2 124.7
59.5 119.9
61.4 120.8
61.7 118.4

76.6 35.6 58.0 28.9 46.5 45.3
79.0 38.1 59.5 30.5 48.2 46.7
79.0 38.8 59.4 32.3 49.0 49.6
81.1 40.7 60.3 33.7 50.3 50.8
80.6 42.0 62.1 35.5 52.1 52.1

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974

63.0 113.1
65.8 112.8
68.0 115.4
70.1 116.9
69.0 109.2

80.5 42.0 61.0 37.1 52.2 55.7
83.0 43.6 60.5 38.7 52.5 58.4
85.5 46.5 62.6 40.3 54.5 58.9
87.8 49.8 64.8 42.6 56.7 60.0
84.6 49.0 65.2 44.9 57.9 63.2

1975
1976
1977
1978
1979

71.4 104.1
74.1 107.8
75.2 109.7
76.1 111.6
76.0 109.8

85.4 48.5 62.4 46.6 56.8 68.6
88.6 51.9 64.2 48.1 58.5 68.7
90.0 54.8 66.8 50.0 60.9 68.6
91.2 58.2 70.2 52.2 63.9 68.1
90.8 60.2 72.4 54.8 66.2 69.2

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984

75.8 103.3
77.3 101.0
77.2 94.2
79.9 96.2
82.2 100.0

88.8 59.4 71.9 57.6 66.9 73.4
88.9 61.0 73.0 60.5 68.7 76.5
86.3 59.3 71.7 63.0 68.7 81.9
88.6 62.5 73.4 65.0 70.5 83.0
91.5 68.1 77.7 68.1 74.4 82.2

1985
1986
1987
1988
1989

83.9 99.5
92.4 71.0 79.6 71.3 76.8 84.3
86.5 99.0 93.9 73.6 80.5 74.4 78.4 87.4
87.0
99.2
94.2 76.3 83.1 76.9 81.0 87.7
88.1 100.4
94.8 79.6 86.3 79.2 83.9 87.7
89.0 101.0
95.3 82.4 88.9 81.6 86.4 88.1

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994

90.2 99.7
91.3 96.5
94.8 98.0
95.4 98.7
96.6 100.4

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000

95.5 83.6 89.4 83.8 87.5 90.4
94.5 82.6 88.3 85.7 87.4 94.6
96.7 85.7 89.3 87.5 88.7 96.8
97.1 88.5 91.8 89.7 91.1 96.6
98.2 92.8 95.6 92.5 94.6 96.2

97.3 99.8
98.4 95.8 98.0 96.0 97.3 97.5
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
102.2 100.3 101.2 105.2 103.5 104.9 104.0
105.0 99.2 102.5 110.5 106.1 111.4 107.8
107.7 98.0 103.4 115.7 109.0 118.0 111.9
111.4

100.0
101.9
105.8
109.9

96.8 105.3 121.0 110.2 125.0 114.9 115.1

See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics								
					
Table 2. Private nonfarm business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1948-20001							
								
Indexes 1996=100
Output					
Combined
per Output Multi-			
units of
hour per factor		
Capital capital Capital
of all unit of ProductLabor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1948
1949

35.1 118.4
36.7 115.2

56.4 18.0 44.1 15.2 31.8 29.7
57.6 17.9 42.2 15.6 31.2 31.8

1950

39.1 121.7

61.1 19.7 43.7 16.2 32.3 32.2

1955

44.6 126.4

66.5 24.4 48.6 19.3 36.7 35.3

1960

48.7 121.9

69.4 27.2 50.1 22.3 39.2 39.9

1965
1966
1967
1968
1969

58.6 133.1
60.7 134.5
61.8 128.8
63.7 129.7
63.8 126.7

80.0 35.5 55.4 26.6 44.3 44.0
82.3 38.0 57.2 28.3 46.2 45.1
82.2 38.7 57.1 30.0 47.0 47.9
84.4 40.8 58.2 31.4 48.3 49.1
83.6 42.0 60.1 33.1 50.2 50.4

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974

64.9 120.5
67.6 119.8
69.9 122.4
72.1 124.1
71.0 115.6

83.1 41.9 59.3 34.8 50.5 53.8
85.6 43.6 58.9 36.3 50.9 56.4
88.2 46.6 60.9 38.1 52.8 57.1
90.7 50.0 63.3 40.3 55.2 58.1
87.4 49.2 63.7 42.6 56.3 61.5

1975

73.0 109.1

87.6 48.4 60.9 44.3 55.2 66.9

	


1976
1977
1978
1979

75.8 113.2
76.9 114.9
77.8 117.0
77.5 114.6

91.2 51.9 62.8 45.9 57.0 66.9
92.4 54.9 65.4 47.7 59.3 66.9
93.7 58.4 68.8 49.9 62.3 66.5
93.1 60.3 71.1 52.6 64.8 67.6

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984

77.3 107.6
78.3 104.2
78.0 96.7
81.4 99.2
83.2 102.6

91.0 59.6 70.7 55.4 65.5 71.8
90.5 60.8 71.7 58.4 67.2 75.1
87.5 59.0 70.6 61.0 67.4 80.7
90.6 62.8 72.2 63.3 69.3 82.0
93.0 68.1 76.7 66.4 73.3 81.1

1985
1986
1987
1988
1989

84.4 101.4
87.1 100.7
87.5 100.5
88.6 101.7
89.2 102.0

93.4 70.8 78.8 69.8 75.8 83.3
94.8 73.5 79.8 73.0 77.6 86.5
94.9 76.2 82.5 75.8 80.3 87.1
95.6 79.7 85.9 78.3 83.4 87.1
95.8 82.4 88.5 80.8 86.0 87.5

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994

90.3 100.4
91.4 97.0
94.8 98.2
95.3 99.0
96.5 100.4

95.8 83.5 89.2 83.2 87.2 89.9
94.8 82.5 88.0 85.1 87.0 94.3
96.7 85.5 89.0 87.0 88.4 96.5
97.2 88.4 91.8 89.4 91.0 96.3
98.2 92.6 95.4 92.2 94.3 96.1

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999

97.5 100.0
98.6 95.8 97.8 95.8 97.2 97.6
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
102.0 100.0 101.0 105.1 103.6 105.1 104.1
104.7 98.9 102.2 110.5 106.4 111.7 108.1
107.1 97.5 102.9 115.6 109.5 118.5 112.4

2000 110.7

100.0
101.9
105.8
109.8

96.1 104.7 120.9 110.7 125.8 115.4 115.3

See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table 3. Private business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1948-20001								
								
Percent Change
Output					
Combined
per Output Multi-			
units of
hour per factor		
Capital capital Capital
of all unit of ProductLabor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1949

3.5

-2.8 1.2

-0.2

-3.3

2.7

-1.4 6.5

1950

8.8 5.9 7.3

10.1

1955

4.6 5.1 4.7 8.5 3.9 3.2 3.7

1960

1.9

1965
1966
1967

3.6 2.3 3.2 7.0 3.2 4.7 3.7 1.3
4.1 1.1 3.1 6.8 2.6 5.7 3.6 3.0
2.2 -3.8 0.1 1.9 -0.2 5.9 1.7 6.3

2.0 3.9 2.6 2.7
-0.4

-0.9 0.6 1.8 0.5 2.8 1.2 2.8

1968
1969

3.2 0.7 2.6 5.1 1.6 4.4 2.5 2.5
0.5 -1.9 -0.5
3.0 2.9 5.1 3.6 2.5

1970
2.2 -4.5 -0.2
0.0 -1.7 4.7
1971
4.4 -0.3 3.2 3.9 -0.8 4.2 0.7
1972
3.3 2.3 2.9 6.7 3.4 4.3 3.7
1973
3.2 1.3 2.7 7.0 3.5 5.7 4.2
1974 -1.6 -6.6 -3.6 -1.6
0.7 5.3
1975
3.5 -4.6 0.9
1976
3.7 3.6 3.8
1977
1.6 1.7 1.6
1978
1.1 1.8 1.2
1979 -0.1 -1.7 -0.4

-1.0 -4.4
6.9 2.9 3.2
5.7 4.0 3.9
6.2 5.2 4.3
3.3 3.1 5.1

0.2 7.0
4.7
0.9
1.9
2.1 5.3

3.8 -1.9 8.6
3.0 0.1
4.0 -0.1
4.9 -0.7
3.7 1.6

1980 -0.3 -5.9 -2.3 -1.2 -0.6
1981
2.0 -2.2 0.2 2.7 1.5 5.0
1982 -0.2 -6.7 -3.0 -2.9 -1.7
1983
3.5 2.1 2.8 5.4 2.3 3.2
1984
2.9 4.0 3.2 8.9 6.0 4.8

5.0
2.6
4.2
2.6
5.6

1.1 6.0
4.3
0.1 7.1
1.3
-1.0

1985
1986
1987
1988
1989

2.1 -0.5 1.1 4.3
3.1 -0.5 1.6 3.7
0.6 0.2 0.3 3.6
1.2 1.2 0.7 4.3
1.0 0.6 0.6 3.5

4.8
4.3
3.4
3.0
3.0

3.2
2.1
3.3
3.6
2.9

2.6
3.6
0.4
-0.1
0.5

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994

1.3 -1.2 0.2 1.5 0.6
1.2 -3.3 -1.0 -1.1
3.8 1.5 2.3 3.7 1.1
0.6 0.7 0.5 3.2 2.9
1.3 1.7 1.1 4.9 4.1

2.7
-1.2
2.1
2.5
3.1

1.3 2.6
2.2 -0.1 4.7
1.4 2.3
2.7 -0.1
3.8 -0.4

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999

0.8 -0.6 0.3 3.2 2.5
2.8 0.2 1.6 4.4 2.1
2.2 0.3 1.2 5.2 3.5
2.7 -1.1 1.3 5.0 2.5
2.5 -1.2 0.9 4.7 2.7

3.8
4.2
4.9
6.1
6.0

2.9
2.8
4.0
3.7
3.8

2000

3.5 -1.3 1.9 4.6 1.1 5.9 2.7 4.8

2.4
1.1
3.2
3.9
2.9

1.4
2.5
1.9
3.8
3.8

See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
					
Table 4. Private nonfarm business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1948-20001							
								
Percent Change
Output					
Combined
per Output Multi-			
units of
hour per factor		
Capital capital Capital
of all unit of ProductLabor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1949

4.5

-2.6 2.0 0.0

-4.2 2.7

-2.0 7.3

	


1950

6.7 5.6 6.0

10.0

3.6 4.2 3.8 1.0

1955

4.7 5.1 4.7 8.9 4.2 3.6 4.0

1960

1.3

1965
1966
1967
1968
1969

3.1 2.0 2.8 7.1 3.7
3.5 1.1 2.9 7.2 3.3
1.8 -4.2 -0.1
1.7
3.2 0.7 2.6 5.4 1.8
0.1 -2.3 -0.9
3.0

1970
1971
1972
1973
1974

1.6
4.2
3.4
3.2
-1.5

-0.4

-1.3 0.5 1.7 0.4 3.1 1.2 2.7
5.0 4.1
6.1 4.2
-0.2 6.2
4.7 2.7
3.3 5.5

-4.9 -0.6 -0.1 -1.3
-0.6 3.0 3.9 -0.7 4.4
2.1 3.0 7.0 3.4 4.7
1.4 2.8 7.4 3.9 5.9
-6.9 -3.6 -1.6 0.6

1975
2.8 -5.6 0.2
1976
3.8 3.8 4.1
1977
1.5 1.5 1.4
1978
1.3 1.8 1.4
1979 -0.4 -2.0 -0.7

-1.8 -4.4
7.4 3.1 3.4
5.7 4.2 4.1
6.5 5.2 4.6
3.2 3.3 5.3

5.0
0.8
3.8
4.5
5.7

1.1
2.5
1.8 6.3
2.5
4.0 2.5
0.5 6.8
4.8
1.2
1.8
2.1 5.7

4.1 -2.0 8.9
3.2 0.0
4.2 0.0
5.0 -0.5
3.9 1.6

1980 -0.3 -6.1 -2.3 -1.2 -0.5
1981
1.3 -3.2 -0.6
2.1 1.5
1982 -0.4 -7.2 -3.3 -3.1 -1.6
1983
4.4 2.6 3.6 6.5 2.4 3.7
1984
2.3 3.4 2.6 8.5 6.2 4.9

5.3
5.4
4.5
2.8
5.8

1.2 6.2
2.6 4.6
0.2 7.4
1.7
-1.1

1985
1986
1987
1988
1989

1.4 -1.2 0.4
3.1 -0.7 1.5
0.4 -0.2 0.1
1.3 1.3 0.7
0.8 0.2 0.3

5.2
4.6
3.8
3.3
3.1

3.5
2.3
3.5
3.9
3.1

2.6
3.9
0.6
0.0
0.5

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994

1.2 -1.5 -0.1
1.4
1.3 -3.5 -1.0 -1.2
3.6 1.3 2.0 3.6 1.2
0.6 0.8 0.5 3.5 3.1
1.3 1.5 1.0 4.7 3.9

0.8
-1.4
2.3
2.7
3.2

2.9 1.4 2.7
2.4 -0.2 4.9
1.5 2.3
3.0 -0.2
3.7 -0.2

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999

1.0 -0.5 0.5 3.4 2.5
2.5 0.0 1.4 4.4 2.2
2.0 0.0 1.0 5.1 3.6
2.7 -1.1 1.2 5.1 2.6
2.3 -1.4 0.6 4.6 3.0

3.9
4.3
5.1
6.3
6.1

3.0
2.9
4.1
3.8
4.0

3.9
3.9
3.6
4.6
3.4

2.7
1.3
3.4
4.1
3.0

1.5
2.5
1.9
3.8
3.8

2000
3.4 -1.5 1.8 4.5 1.1 6.1 2.7 5.0
								
See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics		
Footnotes, Tables 1-4

Source: Output data are from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA),
U.S. Department of Commerce, and modified by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor. Compensation and hours data are
from BLS. Capital measures are based on data supplied by BEA and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. See also Summary of Methods in this release.
(1) The private business sector includes all of gross domestic product except
the output of general government, government enterprises, non-profit
institutions, the rental value of owner-occupied real estate, and the
output of paid employees of private households. The private nonfarm
business sector also excludes farms but includes agricultural services.
(2) Output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs.
(3) Gross domestic product originating in the sector,
superlative chained index.
(4) Index of the hours at work of all persons including employees,
proprietors, and unpaid family workers classified by education, work
experience, and gender. This superlative chain index is computed by
combining changes in the hours of each education, experience,
and gender group weighted by each group's share of labor compensation.
(5) A measure of the flow of capital services used in the sector.
(6) Labor input combined with capital input, using labor's and capital's
shares of costs as weights to form a superlative chained index.
Table 5. Real capital input by asset type, private business, 1948-2000							
Average annual growth rates (percent)							
1948- 1948- 1973- 1979- 1990- 1995- 19992000 1973 1979 1990 1995 2000 2000
All Assets		
3.9 3.7 4.3 3.9 2.7 5.4 5.9
							
Equipment		
5.9 5.5 6.9 5.6 4.4 9.3 10.2
							
All Information 11.7 9.8 13.3 14.5 8.5 16.9 18.2
equipment &							
software (IPES)							
							
Computers & 28.6 25.3 35.8 33.2 14.6 41.8 43.5
related							
equipment							
							
Software		
20.9 27.7 13.2 16.0 13.4 16.4 15.9
							
Communication 8.7 10.0 7.9 8.3 4.1 8.4 11.6
equipment							
							
Other IPES		
6.3 6.8 11.0 5.9 3.2 2.9 1.6
							
All other		
3.8 4.8 5.1 1.8 1.7 4.1 4.7

equipment							
							
Structures		
3.0 3.2 3.0 3.6 1.9 2.2 2.2
							
Residential rental 2.2 2.8 2.6 1.9 0.6 1.4 1.8
capital							
							
Inventories		
3.5 4.2 3.5 2.2 2.6 4.4 4.3
							
Land			
2.0 2.0 2.3 2.6 1.0 1.9 1.7
							
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics							
Note: For a brief discussion of methods used in preparing these data,
see Summary of Methods in this release.							
Table 6. Real capital input by asset type, private nonfarm business, 1948-2000							
Average annual growth rates (percent)							
1948- 1948- 1973- 1979- 1990- 1995- 19992000 1973 1979 1990 1995 2000 2000
All Assets		
4.2 4.0 4.5 4.3 2.9 5.6 6.1
							
Equipment		
6.1 5.6 7.0 6.0 4.6 9.4 10.4
							
All Information 11.7 9.8 13.3 14.5 8.5 16.9 18.2
equipment &							
software (IPES)							
							
Computers & 28.6 25.3 35.8 33.2 14.6 41.9 43.6
related							
equipment							
							
Software		
20.9 27.7 13.2 16.0 13.3 16.4 15.9
							
Communication 8.7 10.0 7.9 8.2 4.0 8.4 11.6
equipment							
							
Other IPES
6.3 6.8 11.0 5.9 3.2 2.9 1.6
							
All other		
3.9 4.9 5.0 2.0 1.9 4.2 4.9
equipment							
							
Structures		
3.1 3.3 3.0 3.7 1.9 2.3 2.3
							
Residential rental 2.3 2.8 2.6 1.9 0.6 1.4 1.8
capital							
							
Inventories		
3.7 4.4 3.7 2.4 2.6 4.4 4.4
							
Land			
2.8 2.8 3.3 3.5 1.1 2.1 1.9
							
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics							

Note: For a brief discussion of methods used in preparing these data,
see Summary of Methods in this release.