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Handbook of Methods Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors Data sources

Productivity Measures: Business Sector and Major Subsectors: Data sources

Major Sector Productivity collects data from a variety of different sources. For almost all sectors and industries, output is measured using a different source than inputs (capital, labor, and intermediate inputs purchases). Below is information on data sources for measuring the components of labor productivity and multifactor productivity.

Output

The output index used to calculate productivity differs depending on the level of the economy being measured.

For business, nonfarm business, private business, and private nonfarm business the output index is prepared using real value added measures that are published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). These output measures are based on and are consistent with the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), including the gross domestic product (GDP) measure, also prepared by the BEA.1 BEA calculates quarterly and annual measures of business sector output by removing from GDP the value added of general government, private households, and nonprofit institutions serving households. These measures, and the measures of nonfarm business sector output, are the real output series used to calculate Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures of labor productivity in the U.S. business and nonfarm business sectors. To measure multifactor productivity, BLS further restricts output to the U.S. private business sector, excluding the output of government enterprises. The BLS multifactor productivity statistics for the private business and private nonfarm business sectors are constructed using annual BEA output data.

At the NIPA industry level, including manufacturing durable and nondurable sectors, the annual output index used is a sectoral output measure based on data obtained from the Bureau of the Census. Output indexes for industries within the manufacturing sector use current-dollar industry value of production with intraindustry transactions removed and is deflated using prices from the BLS Producer Price Index program. For some nonmanufacturing industries, physical quantities of output are measured using data from the Department of the Interior and the Department of Transportation. For the remainder of nonmanufacturing industries output is prepared with data from the BEA. See table A for industry specific data sources.

Quarterly indexes of manufacturing output underlying the quarterly labor productivity data are estimated using the annual manufacturing of sectoral output based on census data and Indexes of Industrial Production, prepared by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Because of a lag in the availability of the annual benchmark data, recent quarterly and annual manufacturing output measures also are extrapolated on the basis of the changes in the Indexes of Industrial Production.

Inputs

Hours worked. The primary source of hours and employment data is the BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which provides monthly survey data on employment and average weekly hours in nonagricultural establishments. CES data on the number of jobs held by wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments are supplemented with data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) on self-employed and unpaid family workers to estimate total worker hours for each industry. CES data on the average weekly hours paid of workers are supplemented with CPS data on hours of nonproduction, self-employed, and unpaid family workers. Ratios of hours worked to hours paid are developed using data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) and the BLS Hours at Work Survey.

Although the hours worked of all persons are usually based on CES and CPS survey data, estimates for some industries are derived from other sources. Estimates of hours for government enterprises and nonprofit corporations are calculated using data from the BEA. For quarterly labor productivity, hours of employees in the farm sector are derived from data from the CPS. For multifactor productivity, hours for this sector are based on USDA farm survey data.

Labor composition. For multifactor productivity, hours worked measures are adjusted for labor composition using data from the CPS. BLS partitions the CPS sample into gender × age category × education level worker groups, and computes the year-to-year growth in hours for independent categories of worker, weighted by work wages.

Labor compensation. Current dollar labor compensation measures are prepared using employee compensation data from the BEA. Compensation data includes wage and salary accruals (including executive compensation), commissions, tips, bonuses, and payments in kind representing income to the recipients—and supplements to these direct payments. Supplements consist of employer contributions to funds for social insurance, private pension and health and welfare plans, compensation for injuries, etc. For labor productivity, self-employed compensation per hour is assumed to be equal to employee compensation per hour.

For multifactor productivity, self-employed compensation is derived from proprietor’s income from BEA. Proprietor’s income includes both capital and labor income. An initial value of labor compensation per hour for proprietors is assumed to be the same as that of the average payrolled employee in that sector. Capital income and labor compensation initial estimates are then adjusted to be consistent with the value added estimates from the Industry accounts at BEA in addition to the proprietor’s income measure published by the BEA NIPA.

Measures of real compensation per hour are derived by adjusting hourly compensation for changes in consumer prices. The price changes for recent quarters are based on the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). For earlier periods consumer prices are based on the BLS Consumer Price Index research series (CPI-U-RS).

Capital services. For depreciable assets, capital services measures are based on data from the BEA fixed asset accounts by detailed asset, and GDP by industry.

Nondepreciable assets, such as inventories and land, stocks are developed using data from BEA and the Internal Revenue Service. Farm land input is based on data from the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Intermediate inputs. Data on intermediate inputs—energy, materials, and purchased services—are derived from measures based on the BEA industry accounts.

Exhibit 1. KLEMS (K-capital, L-labor, E-energy, M-materials, and S-purchased services) measures of industry output data sources for Multifactor Productivity (MFP)
Industry title Source

Farm sector

BEA GDP by industry

Forestry, fishing, and related activities

BEA GDP by industry

Oil and gas extraction

Energy Information Administration

Mining, except oil and gas

Energy Information Administration

Support activities for mining

Energy Information Administration

Utilities

Energy Information Administration

Construction

BEA GDP by industry

Wood products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Nonmetallic mineral products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Primary metal products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Fabricated metal products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Machinery

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Computer and electronic products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Electrical equipment, appliances, and components

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Transportation equipment

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Furniture and related products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Miscellaneous manufacturing

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Food and beverage and tobacco products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Textile mills and Textile product mills

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Apparel and leather and applied products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Paper products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Printing and related support activities

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Petroleum and coal products

Energy Information Administration

Chemical products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Plastics and rubber products

Census Annual Survey of Manufactures

Wholesale trade

BEA GDP by industry

Retail trade

BEA GDP by industry

Air transportation

Department of Transportation

Rail transportation

BEA GDP by industry

Water transportation

BEA GDP by industry

Truck transportation

Census Services Annual Survey

Transit and ground passenger transportation

BEA GDP by industry

Pipeline transportation

BEA GDP by industry

Other transportation and support activities

BEA GDP by industry

Warehousing and storage

BEA GDP by industry

Publishing industries, except internet [includes software]

Census Services Annual Survey

Motion picture and sound recording industries

BEA GDP by industry

Broadcasting and telecommunications

Census Services Annual Survey

Data processing, internet publishing, & other info services

BEA GDP by industry

Federal reserve banks, credit intermediation, & related activities

BEA GDP by industry

Securities, commodity contracts, and investments

BEA GDP by industry

Insurance carriers and related activities

BEA GDP by industry

Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles

BEA GDP by industry

Real estate

BEA GDP by industry

Rental and leasing services and lessors of intangible assets

BEA GDP by industry

Legal services

BEA GDP by industry

Computer systems design and related services

BEA GDP by industry

Miscellaneous professional, scientific, and technical services

BEA GDP by industry

Management of companies and enterprises

BEA GDP by industry

Administrative and support services

BEA GDP by industry

Waste management and remediation services

BEA GDP by industry

Educational services

BEA GDP by industry

Ambulatory health care services

BEA GDP by industry

Hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities

BEA GDP by industry

Social assistance

BEA GDP by industry

Performing arts, spectator sports, museums, & related activities

BEA GDP by industry

Amusements, gambling, and recreation industries

BEA GDP by industry

Accommodation

Census Services Annual Survey

Food services and drinking places

Census Services Annual Survey

Other services, except government

BEA GDP by industry
Notes

1 A summary of the source data and methods used to estimate current-dollar Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and real GDP is provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in "Updated summary of NIPA methodologies," Survey of Current Business (Bureau of Economic Analysis, November 2007), pp. 8–25. Also, see "An introduction to the National Income and Product Accounts" (Bureau of Economic Analysis, September 2007). The current chain-type annual-weighted quantity measures are discussed in J. Steven Landefeld and Robert P. Parker, "BEA's chain indexes, time series, and measures of long-term economic growth," Survey of Current Business (Bureau of Economic Analysis, May 1997), pp. 58–68. The official introduction of these measures into the National Accounts is discussed in J. Steven Landefeld and Robert P. Parker, "Preview of the comprehensive revision of the National Income and Product Accounts: BEA's new featured measures of output and prices," Survey of Current Business (Bureau of Economic Analysis, July 1995), pp. 31–38. These BEA articles may be found on their website (https://apps.bea.gov/scb/).Derivation of business sector output is also discussed in Edwin R. Dean, Michael J. Harper, and Phyllis Flohr Otto, "Improvements to the quarterly productivity measures," Monthly Labor Review, (October 1995), pp. 27–32, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1995/10/art4full.pdf.

Last Modified Date: September 23, 2020