Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries

September 23, 2011
Multifactor productivity, output per unit of combined inputs, rose in 14 percent of the 86 detailed manufacturing industries in 2009, compared to 42 percent of the industries in 2008. Multifactor productivity declined in air transportation and line-haul railroads. More...
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Multifactor Productivity Trends in Manufacturing

August 11, 2011
In 2009 multifactor productivity in manufacturing decreased 5.7 percent, 8.0 percent in durable manufacturing, and 3.1 percent in nondurable manufacturing. In all three sectors, declines in multifactor productivity were the largest of the series. More...
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Preliminary Multifactor Productivity Trends

May 19, 2011
In 2010, multifactor productivity grew at a 3.2 percent annual rate in both the private nonfarm business and private business sectors. In both sectors, the multifactor productivity gain was the largest of the series which began in 1987. More...
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Archived

• Multifactor Productivity Trends, 2009 (HTML) (PDF)--Published Data for Major Sectors. See current news release above.
• Archived Multifactor Productivity Trends--Published Data for Major Sectors back to 1981
• Archived Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries

Databases

Data on major sectors and 18 NAICS 3-digit manufacturing industries. Tables for detailed 4-digit NAICS industries are shown in the MFP Tables section.

MFP Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Major Sector Multifactor Productivity

More Tools

• Series Report--Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Text files (FTP)--For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.

Major Sector and 3-Digit NAICS Manufacturing Industries

IMPORTANT Download standard multifactor data tables:

• Comprehensive tables of multifactor productivity and related capital data for private business, private nonfarm business and manufacturing.
• Historical multifactor productivity measures (SIC 1948-87 linked to NAICS 1987-2010)
• Superceded historical SIC measures for private business and private nonfarm business sectors, 1948-2002
• Superceded historical SIC measures for manufacturing sectors and 2-digit SIC manufacturing industries, 1949-2001

Analytic Tables and Charts

• NEW Multifactor Productivity Growth by Major Sector, 1948-2010. Bar Chart
• Contributions of Manufacturing Industries to private nonfarm business multifactor productivity (PDF 50K)
• Sources of growth in Real Output in the private nonfarm business sector (PDF 29K)
• Contribution of Research and Development to Private Nonfarm Business Multifactor Productivity including Research and Development stocks
• Sources of growth in Real Output in the private business sector (PDF 29K)

Detailed 4-Digit NAICS Industries

• Indexes of Multifactor Productivity and Related Data, 1987-2009 (2002=100) (XLS)
• Rates of Change of Multifactor Productivity and Related Data, 1987-2009 (XLS)
• Factor Input Cost Levels and Cost Shares, 1987-2009 (XLS)

Superceded historical multifactor productivity data for SIC manufacturing industries and railroad transportation

• Indexes, 1987-99
• Indexes, historical to 1987

• Technical Information About the BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures for Major Sectors and 18 NAICS 3-digit Manufacturing Industries (HTML) (PDF 130 KB)
• Overview of Capital Inputs for the BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures (HTML) (PDF 213 KB)

• "Nonmanufacturing industry contributions to multifactor productivity, 1987–2006," (PDF 1,000K), by Michael J. Harper, Bhavani Khandrika, Randal Kinoshita, and Steven Rosenthal, Monthly Labor Review, June 2010, pp. 16-31.
• "Effects of imported intermediate inputs on productivity,"(PDF 2,067K), by Lucy P. Eldridge and Michael J. Harper, Monthly Labor Review, June 2010, pp. 3-15.
• "Integrated GDP-Productivity Accounts," (PDF), by Michael J. Harper, Brent R. Moulton, Steven Rosenthal, and David B. Wasshausen. December 2008. Presented at the American Economic Association Meetings in January 2009.
• "Preliminary Estimate of Multifactor Productivity Growth" (PDF), by Peter B. Meyer and Michael J. Harper, Monthly Labor Review, June 2005, pp. 32-43.
An error in the multifactor productivity growth rate for 2003 appeared in the original article but it has been corrected in both the electronic and paper versions as of July 8th. Those who downloaded the earlier version should download the corrected version.
• "Multifactor productivity change in the air transportation industry" (PDF), by John Duke and Victor Torres, Monthly Labor Review, March 2005, pp.32-45.
• "Multifactor Productivity Measures for Three-digit SIC Manufacturing Industries, 1990-99," (PDF) Report 956, January 2002.
• "Multifactor productivity trends in manufacturing industries, 1987-96," (PDF), by Ziaul Z. Ahmed and Patricia S. Wilder, Monthly Labor Review, June 2001, pp.3-11.
• Archive of MLR Articles on Productivity and Technology.

• "Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors," Chapter 10 of the BLS Handbook of Methods, BLS Bulletin 2490, April 1997, pp. 89-102.
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 11, Industry Productivity Measures (HTML) (PDF 196K).

• "Data sources and methods for measuring multifactor productivity in the utility services industries," (PDF).
• "The BLS Productivity Measurement Program," (PDF), by Edwin R. Dean and Michael J. Harper, Discussion Paper presented at the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth: New Directions in Productivity Research, March 20-21, 1998.
• "Hours at Work Survey, 2000," (PDF), Brief description of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Hours at Work Survey for 2000.
• "Productivity Measurement with Changing-Weight Indexes of Outputs and Inputs," (PDF), by Edwin R. Dean, Michael J. Harper, and Mark K. Sherwood. Discussion paper presented at the OECD Expert Workshop on Productivity: International Comparison and Measurement Issues, May 2-3, 1996.
• "Measurement of Productivity Growth in U.S. Manufacturing," (PDF), by William Gullickson, Monthly Labor Review, July 1995, pp. 13-27.
• "Difficulties in the Measurement of Service Outputs," (PDF 1,417K) by Mark Sherwood, Monthly Labor Review, March 1994, pp. 11-19.
• "Hours at Work: A New Base for BLS Productivity Statistics," PDF) by Mary Jablonski, Kent Kunze, and Phyllis Flohr Otto, Monthly Labor Review, February 1990, pp. 17-24.

Available on Request:

• Labor Composition and U. S. Productivity Growth, 1948-90, BLS Bulletin 2426, December 1993. Changes in the educational attainment of the work force and their impact on MFP are measured.
• The Impact of Research and Development on Productivity Growth, BLS Bulletin 2331, 1989. Presents annual measures of the stock of research and development and its contribution to productivity growth in the nonfarm business sector.
• Trends in Multifactor Productivity, 1948-81, BLS Bulletin 2178, 1983. Presents BLS annual indexes of MFP and output per unit of capital services for private business, private nonfarm business, and manufacturing.

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