2003 and 2004 Multifactor Productivity Trends — 2006-03-23

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today multifactor productivity data � output per combined units of labor and capital inputs � for 2003 and 2004. The annual rates of multifactor productivity change from 2002 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2004 were: Multifactor productivity in the private business and private nonfarm business sectors in 2003 and 2004 show the fastest rates of growth in the current time series, which go back to 1987. In both sectors, multifactor productivity grew at a slightly faster pace in 2004 than in 2003. The 2002-3 and 2003-4 annual changes are summarized in table A, and further detail and historical measures are shown in tables 1 through 6. 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.