Service Sector and Mining, 1997 — 1999-05-04

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today on labor productivity changes in 1997 for selected industries in the service and the mining sectors of the U.S. economy. Labor productivity--defined as output per hour--rose in 1997 for most of the industries measured by BLS in these sectors. In 1997, output per hour increased in 74 percent of the service and mining industries, as measured at the 3-digit level of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual. Output, which is the production of goods and services, rose in 81 percent of the industries at the 3- digit level, while hours of labor rose in 72 percent of the industries. The attached table presents data for industries in the service sector and in mining for which BLS publishes productivity series at the 2-, 3-, and 4-digit levels. In general, the analysis that follows will focus on industries at the 2- and 3-digit levels of aggregation.