Productivity by Industry, 1987-1996 — 1998-07-23

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, reported today on labor productivity changes in 1996 for selected industries in the U.S. economy and announced a major expansion in the information available from this program. With this release, BLS is publishing data on labor productivity for 499 industries--a substantial increase from the 182 industries previously published. The series for the industries newly introduced begin in 1987 and generally run through 1996. Over the 1987-1996 period, labor productivity--defined as output per hour--increased in 84 percent of the industries, as measured at the 3-digit level of the Standard Industrial Classification Manual. Output, which is the production of goods and services, rose in 80 percent of the industries at the 3-digit level. In contrast, hours of labor increased in only 51 percent of the industries. The attached table contains data for all industries for which BLS publishes productivity series, including industries at the 2-, 3-, and 4-digit levels.