2005 Multifactor Productivity Trends — 2007-03-23

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: 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.