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Internet address: http://www.bls.gov/mfp USDL 07-0422
Historical, technical Friday, March 23, 2007
information: (202) 691-5606 For Release: 10:00 AM EDT
Media contact: (202) 691-5902
MULTIFACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRENDS, 2005
Private Business and Private Nonfarm Business
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor reported
today multifactor productivity data output per combined units of labor and
capital inputs for 2005. The annual rate of multifactor productivity change
from 2004 to 2005 was:
2004-05
Private business sector 1.7
Private nonfarm business sector 1.8
Multifactor productivity in the private business and private nonfarm business
sectors show a lower rate of growth than in the previous two years. The
2004-5 annual changes are summarized in table A, and further detail and
historical measures are shown in tables 1 through 6. The 1.7 percent change
in multifactor productivity growth for the private business sector is just
slightly lower than the preliminary 1.8 percent change reported on August 29,
2006 based on partial information.
Multifactor productivity is designed to measure the joint influences of
economic growth on technological change, efficiency improvements, returns to
scale, reallocation of resources, and other factors, allowing for the effects
of capital and labor. Multifactor productivity, therefore, differs from labor
productivity (output per hour worked) measures that are published quarterly by
BLS since it includes information on capital services and other data that are
not available on a quarterly basis.
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 differing
in that the output of government enterprises is omitted.
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.
Private business sector
Chart 1 shows the annual indexes of multifactor productivity, output per hour
worked, and output per unit of capital services during the 1987-2005 period
for private business. Over the last 18 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 toward workers with more human capital have supplemented labor productivity
growth, usually allowing output per hour to grow at a faster rate than
multifactor productivity.
.
Multifactor productivity rose 1.7 percent in 2005, a slower rate of growth than
in 2003 and 2004. The multifactor productivity gain in 2005 reflected a 3.8
percent increase in output and a 2.1 percent increase in the combined inputs
of capital and labor (see table 3).
Continuing the relatively slow growth of the last four years, growth in
capital services rose 2.6 percent. However, labor input rose 1.8 percent,
slightly higher than the 1.5 percent increase of 2004. Hours rose 1.7 percent.
The capital-labor ratio (capital services per hour of all persons) increased
by 0.9 percent.
Equipment capital services grew 4.0 percent in 2005, much more rapidly than
other broad categories of capital assets (see table 5). Within equipment,
services of computers and related equipment grew 13.3 percent, software 6.2
percent, communication equipment 5.1 percent, other information processing
equipment 3.7 percent, and all other equipment 2.0 percent. All rates of
increase are markedly lower than in the 1995-2000 period except for other
information processing equipment. Services of structures grew 0.9 percent in
2005, as compared to a compound average rate of 2.0 percent over the 1995-2000
period. Inventories grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in 2005, down from
the 4.3 percent compound average annual rate of growth in the 1995-2000 period.
Table A. Productivity and related data, percent changes, 2004-2005
Private
Private Nonfarm
Business1 Business1
Productivity
Multifactor Productivity2 1.7 1.8
Output per hour of all persons 2.1 2.1
Output per unit of capital services 1.2 1.4
Output 3.8 3.9
Inputs
Labor input3 1.8 1.8
Hours 1.7 1.7
Labor Composition4 0.1 0.1
Capital services 2.6 2.4
Combined units of labor and capital inputs 2.1 2.0
Analytic ratio:
Capital services per hour of all persons 0.9 0.7
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 input reflects the change in hours at work adjusted for the effects of
changing labor composition. As mentioned previously, labor input rose 1.8
percent. This modest increase in labor input was due to an increase in hours
at work of 1.7 percent and a modest contribution from labor composition
(see table A). Changes in labor composition, as measured by shifts in the
educational attainment and work experience of the work force, rose only 0.1
percent (see �Changes in the Composition of Labor for the BLS Multifactor
Productivity Measures, 2005�, available at http://www.bls.gov/web/mprlabor.pdf).
Labor productivity (output per hour worked) increased 2.1 percent, the fourth
consecutive year in which the growth rate of labor productivity decelerated.
Capital productivity (output per unit of capital services) grew 1.2 percent,
the third consecutive annual increase.
Private nonfarm business sector
Multifactor productivity in the private nonfarm business sector rose 1.8
percent in 2005, lower than the 2.6 percent increase in 2004. Output
increased 3.9 percent, and the combined inputs of capital and labor
increased 2.0 percent.
Labor input and capital services grew slightly higher in 2005 than the
previous year. Labor input grew 1.8 percent, compared to 1.6 percent in 2004.
Capital services grew 2.4 percent, compared to 2.2 percent in 2004. Within
capital services, equipment was the fastest growing component(see table 6).
The increase in equipment in 2005 was largely due to capital services of
information processing equipment and software rising by 6.7 percent. As in
previous years, the fastest growth in equipment was in computers and related
equipment, which grew 13.3 percent.
Labor productivity grew 2.1 percent and capital productivity rose 1.4 percent.
Capital services per hour increased at the rate of 0.7 percent.
Historical trends in the private business and private nonfarm business sectors
Labor productivity (output per hour worked) 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 nor do they account for 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. Historical trends in 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. The relationship between labor productivity growth and these
three components can be seen in table B.
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 a
third of total payments.
Because trends in the private nonfarm business sector were similar to those in
the private business sector in each period, the description that follows
focuses exclusively on the private business sector.
Over the 1987-2005 period, output per hour worked grew at an annual rate of
2.3 percent in private business. Of the 2.3 percent growth rate in labor
productivity, 1.1 percent can be attributed to increases in multifactor
productivity, 0.9 percent to the contribution of capital intensity, and 0.4
percent to changes in labor composition. Since 1987, output per hour worked
has accelerated, growing 1.5 percent in the 1990-95 period, 2.7 percent in
the 1995-2000 period, and 3.2 percent in the 2000-2005 period.
In the period 1987-1990, all of the productivity measures (see table B) grew
to varying degrees. Multifactor productivity increased at annual average rate
of 0.6 percent. Labor productivity grew at annual average rate of 1.6 percent.
The contribution of capital intensity averaged a growth rate of 0.6 percent,
with information processing equipment exhibiting a growth rate of 0.4 percent
and other capital services growing 0.2 percent. The contribution of labor
composition increased 0.4 percent.
Over the 1990-1995 period, increases in the productivity measures were similar
to those in the 1987-1990 period. Multifactor productivity rose 0.5 percent.
Labor productivity grew at 1.5 percent. The contribution of capital intensity
grew 0.6 percent, with information processing equipment contributing two-thirds
of this growth. The contribution of labor composition rose 0.4 percent, the
same as in the previous period.
In the latter half of the 1990s, productivity growth accelerated. Multifactor
productivity growth increased 1.3 percent, and output per hour growth nearly
doubled compared to the 1990-95 period, rising 2.7 percent. The contribution
of capital intensity almost doubled from the 1990-95 period, rising an average
of 1.1 percent. The growth in each of the two components of the contribution
of capital intensity, information processing equipment and other capital
services, doubled from the previous period, with information processing
equipment commanding an even more predominant share of the total contribution
of capital services. The growth of the contribution of information processing
equipment rose to 0.9 percent, while the contribution of other capital services
grew 0.2 percent. The contribution of labor composition dropped 0.1 percentage
point from the previous period, to 0.3 percent.
In the 2000-2005 period, multifactor productivity growth increased an
additional 0.5 percentage points from the 1995-2000 period, to 1.8 percent.
Labor productivity continued its upward trend, rising an average of 3.2 percent
per year. The contribution of capital intensity growth dropped 0.1 percentage
points from the previous period to 1.0 percent. Growth in the composition of
capital intensity came in equal parts from both of the major components. The
contribution of information processing equipment dropped to a growth rate of
0.6 percent from 0.9 percent in the 1995-2000 period. At the same time, the
contribution of other capital services rose to 0.4 percent. The contribution
of labor composition growth increased to 0.4 percent.
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, 1987 to 2005
(percent per year)
1987-05 1987-90 1990-95 1995-00 2000-05 2004-05
Private business1
Output per hour
of all persons 2.3 1.6 1.5 2.7 3.2 2.1
Contribution of
capital intensity2 0.9 0.6 0.6 1.1 1.0 0.3
Contribution of
information processing
equipment and software3 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.9 0.6 0.3
Contribution of all
other capital services 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.0
Contribution of
labor composition4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.1
Multifactor productivity5 1.1 0.6 0.5 1.3 1.8 1.7
Private nonfarm business1
Output per hour
of all persons 2.3 1.5 1.6 2.5 3.2 2.1
Contribution of
capital intensity2 0.8 0.6 0.6 1.1 1.0 0.2
Contribution of
information processing
equipment and software3 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.9 0.6 0.3
Contribution of all
other capital services 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.1
Contribution of
labor composition4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.1
Multifactor productivity5 1.0 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.8 1.8
Contribution of R&D to
multifactor productivity 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2
1. Excludes government enterprises.
2. Growth rate in capital services per hour times capital's share of current
dollar costs.
3. Growth rate of information processing equipment and software per hour
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: Multifactor productivity plus contribution of capital intensity and labor
composition may not sum to output per hour due to independent rounding.
Contribution of information processing equipment and all other capital
equipment may not sum to the contribution of capital intensity due to
independent rounding.
While multifactor productivity reflects many influences, technological change
is one of the primary contributors. For the private nonfarm business sector,
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 1987-2005 period, or about 20 percent of total
multifactor productivity growth (see table B). The contribution of research
and development varied little over time, contributing 0.2 percent per year
during the following periods: 1987-90, 1990-95, and 1995-2000. The
contribution of research and development to multifactor productivity increased
to 0.3 percent in the 2000-05 period.
Notes
Private business and private nonfarm business output series through 2005
reflect the annual revisions to the National Income and Product
Accounts (NIPA), announced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in
July 2006.
Multifactor productivity measures for the private business and private nonfarm
business sectors are now developed from data based on the 1997 North American
Industry Classification System (NAICS). These measures are not comparable with
the measures for the private business and private nonfarm business sectors
previously developed using data on a 1987 Standard Industrial Classification
(SIC) basis. This is because major sector multifactor productivity measures
are aggregated from industry detail data that are largely unavailable on a
NAICS basis before 1987. In addition, the hours of proprietors and unpaid
family workers, compensation, and measures of labor composition, which are
collected on a 2002 NAICS basis, are converted to a 1997 NAICS basis for this
report.
BLS built multifactor productivity measures from three-digit NAICS detail.
Most critical data were not reported on a NAICS basis for years prior to 1998.
Detailed GDP by industry data, are available from 1998 forward, but from
1987-1997, many of the income components needed to construct capital rental
prices were obtained by applying 1997 SIC-to-NAICS conversion factors to SIC
data and adjusting to the resulting NAICS totals. A similar procedure was
applied to manufacturing inventories. Detailed nonmanufacturing inventories
were constructed using total inventory for the private business sector and
nonmanufacturing industry shares of total inventory derived from the IRS book
value of inventories reported for NAICS industries. Land data were only
available from 1998 to 2003 on a NAICS basis. As a consequence, land estimates
from 1987 to 1997 were calculated using a combination of SIC to NAICS
conversion factors and more detailed IRS data. Data for 2004 and 2005 were
extrapolated using detailed IRS data for 2003.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has used Current Population Survey (CPS) data
to measure the hours of nonfarm proprietors and unpaid family workers, and all
persons working in the farm sector using the hours worked by people whose main
job falls into these categories. Since the Productivity and Costs news release
of June 2005, hours for primary and secondary jobs held by persons working more
than one job were processed separately and assigned to the appropriate class of
worker for each job, rather than assigning all hours to the primary job.
Hours worked in a second job as a nonfarm employee by a proprietor (or other
selected category of worker for whom our source is the CPS) were deducted to
avoid double-counting. Conversely, hours worked as a proprietor in a secondary
job by a person who is primarily an employee were included. This
multiple-jobholder adjustment yielded an improved measure of hours at work by
sector and industry and the employment series approximated a count of jobs
rather than persons. This adjustment has not yet been implemented within the
manufacturing sector, where there are very few proprietors.
Labor composition measures have been updated through 2005. A brief description,
"Changes in the Composition of Labor for the BLS Multifactor Productivity
Measures, 2005" is available at http://www.bls.gov/web/mprlabor.pdf.
Comprehensive tables containing additional data not included in this news
release are available at http://www.bls.gov/mfp/mprdload.htm or in print upon
request.
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.", the BLS
Handbook of Methods, Chapter 10 at
http://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch10.pdf, and on the BLS Multifactor
Productivity website at http://www.bls.gov/mfp/mfpover.htm. Additional
data not contained in the release can be obtained in print or at
http://www.bls.gov/mfp.
Capital Input: 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, terminals, tape drives, storage devices, and integrated
systems. Software is comprised of pre-packaged, custom, and own-account
software. Communications equipment is not further differentiated. Other
IPES includes medical equipment and related instruments, electromedical
instruments, nonmedical instruments, photocopying and related equipment,
and office and accounting machinery. 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 60 NAICS industry groupings 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. Current-dollar capital
costs can be defined as each asset�s rental price multiplied by its
constant-dollar stock, adjusting for capital composition effects.
Data on investments in physical assets are obtained from BEA. Data on
inventories are obtained from BEA using additional information from IRS
Corporation Income Returns. Estimates for land in the farm sector are
obtained from USDA. Nonfarm industry detail is based on IRS book value data.
Current-dollar gross product originating (GPO) data, obtained from BEA,
are used in estimating capital rental prices.
Labor Input: Labor input in private business and private nonfarm
business is obtained by Tornqvist aggregation of the hours at work by
all persons, classified by education, work experience, and gender with
weights determined by their shares of labor compensation. Hours paid of
employees are largely obtained from CES. These hours of employees are
then converted to an at-work basis by using information from the
Employment Cost Index (ECI) of the National Compensation Survey and the
Hours at Work Survey. Hours at work for nonproduction and supervisory
workers are derived using data from the CPS, the CES, and the NCS. The
hours at work of proprietors, unpaid family workers, and farm employees
are derived from the Current Population Survey. Hours at work data
reflect Productivity and Costs data as of the March 6, 2007 news release.
Therefore it does reflect the benchmark revisions to the CES survey and
other revisions to hours released on February 2, 2007. 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."
Combined Inputs: Labor and capital input are combined using 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 taxes on production and imports. Most taxes on production and
imports, 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.
Output: This release presents data for the private business and private
nonfarm business sectors. The private business sector, which accounted
for approximately 77 percent of gross domestic product in 2000, 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 from the private business sector, but includes agricultural
services. Multifactor measures exclude government enterprises, while
the BLS quarterly Productivity and Cost series include them.
Multifactor Productivity: 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 of output,
capital, and labor 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 1987 to 2005, BEA supplies the output indexes.
BLS adjusts these to eliminate the output of government enterprises.
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 1987-2005
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." BLS measures of the stock of research and development are
available upon request.
Table 1. Private business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1987-2005
Indexes 2000=100.0
Output Combined
per Output Multi- units of
hour per factor Capital capital Capital
of all unit of Product- Labor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1987 77.3 106.5 89.7 62.4 75.4 58.6 69.6 72.5
1988 78.5 107.2 90.3 65.2 78.1 60.8 72.2 73.2
1989 79.3 107.0 90.6 67.6 80.6 63.1 74.6 74.1
1990 81.0 105.5 91.2 68.6 80.5 65.1 75.2 76.8
1991 82.4 102.0 90.6 68.1 79.4 66.8 75.2 80.8
1992 86.0 103.9 93.0 70.9 80.2 68.3 76.2 82.7
1993 86.4 104.0 93.2 73.2 82.6 70.3 78.5 83.0
1994 87.2 105.6 93.9 76.8 86.3 72.8 81.8 82.6
1995 87.4 104.4 93.7 79.2 88.8 75.8 84.5 83.8
1996 90.0 104.5 95.3 82.8 90.6 79.2 86.9 86.1
1997 91.7 104.7 96.2 87.2 94.2 83.3 90.7 87.6
1998 94.3 103.3 97.4 91.5 96.4 88.5 93.9 91.2
1999 97.2 102.2 98.7 96.2 99.0 94.2 97.5 95.1
2000 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
2001 102.8 96.1 100.2 100.5 98.6 104.5 100.3 106.9
2002 107.1 95.0 101.9 102.0 97.2 107.4 100.2 112.7
2003 111.2 95.9 104.6 105.2 96.9 109.7 100.6 116.0
2004 114.7 98.0 107.3 109.9 98.4 112.2 102.4 117.1
2005 117.1 99.1 109.2 114.1 100.2 115.1 104.5 118.1
See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table 2. Private nonfarm business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1987-2005
Indexes 2000=100.0
Output Combined
per Output Multi- units of
hour per factor Capital capital Capital
of all unit of Product- Labor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1987 78.0 108.3 90.6 62.4 74.7 57.7 68.9 72.0
1988 79.3 109.4 91.4 65.3 77.5 59.7 71.5 72.5
1989 79.9 108.9 91.5 67.6 80.0 62.1 73.9 73.3
1990 81.4 107.1 91.9 68.6 80.0 64.1 74.7 76.1
1991 82.9 103.3 91.3 68.1 78.9 65.9 74.6 80.2
1992 86.3 104.9 93.4 70.8 79.8 67.5 75.7 82.2
1993 86.7 105.2 93.7 73.2 82.3 69.6 78.1 82.4
1994 87.7 106.5 94.5 76.7 85.7 72.1 81.2 82.4
1995 88.2 105.5 94.5 79.3 88.2 75.2 83.9 83.6
1996 90.5 105.3 95.8 82.8 90.2 78.7 86.5 86.0
1997 92.0 105.1 96.4 87.2 93.9 82.9 90.4 87.5
1998 94.5 103.7 97.7 91.5 96.2 88.2 93.7 91.1
1999 97.3 102.4 98.8 96.3 99.0 94.0 97.5 95.0
2000 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
2001 102.7 96.1 100.1 100.5 98.7 104.6 100.4 106.9
2002 107.1 94.9 101.9 102.1 97.2 107.6 100.2 112.8
2003 111.0 95.7 104.4 105.2 97.1 110.0 100.7 116.1
2004 114.4 97.7 107.1 109.9 98.6 112.4 102.5 117.0
2005 116.8 99.1 109.1 114.1 100.4 115.1 104.6 117.9
See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table 3. Private business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1988-2005
Percent change
Output Combined
per Output Multi- units of
hour per factor Capital capital Capital
of all unit of Product- Labor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1988 1.6 0.6 0.7 4.4 3.6 3.7 3.6 0.9
1989 1.0 -0.2 0.3 3.7 3.1 3.8 3.3 1.1
1990 2.2 -1.5 0.7 1.5 -0.1 3.0 0.9 3.7
1991 1.7 -3.3 -0.7 -0.7 -1.3 2.7 0.0 5.3
1992 4.3 1.9 2.7 4.1 1.0 2.2 1.4 2.4
1993 0.5 0.2 0.2 3.2 3.0 3.0 3.0 0.3
1994 1.0 1.5 0.8 5.0 4.5 3.5 4.2 -0.5
1995 0.2 -1.1 -0.3 3.0 2.9 4.2 3.3 1.4
1996 2.9 0.1 1.7 4.6 2.1 4.5 2.9 2.8
1997 1.9 0.2 0.9 5.3 4.0 5.2 4.4 1.7
1998 2.8 -1.3 1.3 4.9 2.3 6.3 3.5 4.2
1999 3.1 -1.1 1.3 5.2 2.7 6.4 3.8 4.3
2000 2.9 -2.1 1.3 3.9 1.0 6.2 2.6 5.1
2001 2.8 -3.9 0.2 0.5 -1.4 4.5 0.3 6.9
2002 4.2 -1.2 1.7 1.5 -1.4 2.7 -0.1 5.4
2003 3.9 0.9 2.7 3.1 -0.3 2.2 0.5 2.9
2004 3.1 2.1 2.7 4.5 1.5 2.3 1.7 1.0
2005 2.1 1.2 1.7 3.8 1.8 2.6 2.1 0.9
See footnotes following table 4.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table 4. Private nonfarm business sector: Productivity and related measures, 1988-2005
Percent change
Output Combined
per Output Multi- units of
hour per factor Capital capital Capital
of all unit of Product- Labor Serv- and per hour of
Year persons capital ivity2 Output3 Input4 ices5 labor6 all persons
1988 1.7 1.0 0.9 4.6 3.7 3.6 3.7 0.7
1989 0.7 -0.4 0.1 3.5 3.2 3.9 3.4 1.1
1990 1.9 -1.7 0.4 1.5 0.1 3.2 1.1 3.7
1991 1.8 -3.5 -0.7 -0.8 -1.4 2.9 -0.1 5.5
1992 4.1 1.6 2.4 3.9 1.1 2.3 1.5 2.5
1993 0.5 0.3 0.3 3.5 3.2 3.2 3.2 0.2
1994 1.1 1.2 0.8 4.8 4.1 3.6 3.9 -0.1
1995 0.6 -1.0 0.0 3.3 2.9 4.3 3.3 1.5
1996 2.6 -0.2 1.4 4.5 2.3 4.7 3.0 2.8
1997 1.6 -0.1 0.7 5.2 4.1 5.3 4.5 1.7
1998 2.8 -1.3 1.3 5.0 2.4 6.4 3.7 4.2
1999 2.9 -1.3 1.1 5.2 2.9 6.6 4.0 4.2
2000 2.8 -2.4 1.2 3.8 1.0 6.3 2.6 5.3
2001 2.7 -3.9 0.1 0.5 -1.3 4.6 0.4 6.9
2002 4.2 -1.3 1.8 1.5 -1.5 2.8 -0.3 5.6
2003 3.7 0.8 2.5 3.1 -0.2 2.3 0.6 2.9
2004 3.0 2.2 2.6 4.4 1.6 2.2 1.8 0.8
2005 2.1 1.4 1.8 3.9 1.8 2.4 2.0 0.7
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, 1987-2005
Average annual growth rates (percent)
1987- 1987- 1990- 1995- 2000- 2004-
2005 1990 1995 2000 2005 2005
All Assets 3.8 3.5 3.1 5.7 2.9 2.6
Equipment 5.9 4.5 4.7 9.4 4.6 4.0
All Information 11.5 10.8 9.4 17.4 8.4 6.7
equipment & software
Computers & 23.4 18.8 16.4 40.9 17.4 13.3
related equipment
Software 13.8 18.6 13.9 17.5 7.3 6.2
Communications 7.5 6.3 5.4 10.8 7.0 5.1
equipment
Other IPES 3.4 3.4 3.8 3.2 3.0 3.7
All other equipment 2.3 1.2 1.8 4.2 1.8 2.0
Structures 1.9 2.8 1.9 2.0 1.1 0.9
Residential rental 1.6 2.0 1.1 1.7 1.5 1.7
capital
Inventories 2.6 2.6 2.2 4.3 1.3 2.8
Land 1.6 2.9 1.4 1.7 1.0 2.1
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, 1987-2005
Average annual growth rates (percent)
1987- 1987- 1990- 1995- 2000- 2004-
2005 1990 1995 2000 2005 2005
All Assets 3.9 3.6 3.2 5.9 2.9 2.4
Equipment 6.1 4.8 4.9 9.5 4.7 4.0
All Information 11.5 10.7 9.4 17.4 8.4 6.7
equipment & software
Computers & 23.4 18.8 16.3 40.9 17.4 13.3
related equipment
Software 13.8 18.6 13.9 17.5 7.3 6.2
Communications 7.5 6.3 5.4 10.8 7.0 5.1
equipment
Other IPES 3.3 3.3 3.8 3.2 3.0 3.7
All other equipment 2.5 1.5 2.0 4.3 1.7 1.9
Structures 1.9 2.9 2.0 2.1 1.2 0.9
Residential rental 1.6 2.0 1.1 1.7 1.5 1.7
capital
Inventories 2.7 3.0 2.2 4.5 1.4 2.9
Land 1.5 1.8 1.5 2.1 0.6 0.4
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Note: For a brief discussion of methods used in preparing these data,
see Summary of Methods in this release.