2005 Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries — 2007-08-21

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today on multifactor productivity � output per unit of combined inputs � for four-digit NAICS manufacturing industries through the year 2005. Multifactor productivity rose in roughly two-thirds of the 86 detailed manufacturing industries in 2005, slightly fewer than in 2004. More industries experienced an increase in multifactor productivity over a longer period. From 1987 to 2005, multifactor productivity increased in three-quarters of the manufacturing industries. Multifactor productivity indexes relate the change in output to the change in the combination of labor, capital, and intermediate purchases consumed in producing that out- put. Because industry multifactor productivity indexes explicitly account for inputs of capital and intermediates as well as labor, they are not influenced by the substitution of capital and intermediate inputs for labor, as are measures of labor productivity.