2011 Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries — 2013-09-25

Multifactor productivity -- defined as output per unit of combined inputs -- increased in 55 of the 86 four-digit NAICS manufacturing industries in 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table 1.) This was down from 2010, when multifactor productivity increased in 63 of those industries. However, more industries recorded increases in multifactor productivity in both 2010 and 2011 than in any year since 2004. Three manufacturing industries recorded double-digit percent increases in multifactor productivity: semiconductors and electronic components, other transportation equipment, and electric lighting equipment. Multifactor productivity is measured in two transportation industries. Multifactor productivity increased 1.2 percent in air transportation and decreased 1.6 percent in line-haul railroads. Multifactor productivity indexes relate the change in real output to the change in the combined inputs of labor, capital, and intermediate purchases consumed in producing that output.