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Productivity
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What are the differences between the nonfarm business sector and the nonfinancial corporate sector?
The quarterly Productivity and Costs news release includes data for both the nonfarm business (NFB) sector and the nonfinancial corporate (NFC) sector. While these sectors both have relatively wide coverage of the US economy, their uses vary due to their differences in coverage and source data.
Coverage
The NFB sector, as the name suggests, is the portion of the US economy that covers the business sector after removing farms. Farms are excluded to reduce volatility in the measure. The NFB sector covers about three quarters of the economy[1] and excludes non-businesses such as general government, nonprofit institutions serving households, and households.[2]
Covering about half of the economy, the NFC sector is the portion of the economy covered by corporate businesses except for corporations in the financial sector. Relative to the NFB sector, the NFC sector additionally excludes government enterprises, non-corporate businesses, and financial businesses, while including corporate farms.
| Components | Nonfarm business sector | Nonfinancial corporate sector |
|---|---|---|
Corporate businesses | Included | Included |
Non-corporate businesses (proprietorships and partnerships) | Included | Not included |
Offices of bank holding companies, offices of other holding companies, and offices in the finance and insurance sector | Included | Not included |
Farms | Not included | Corporate farms included |
Nonprofit institutions serving households | Not included | Not included |
Households | Not included | Not included |
General government | Not included | Not included |
Source data
Both sectors’ labor measures use BLS hours data from the Current Population Survey and Current Employment Statistics program, but these sectors use different output sources. The NFB sector uses gross domestic product (GDP) for output and the NFC sector uses gross domestic income (GDI. GDP and GDI are conceptually equivalent in that they both aim to measure production in the US economy; however, differences in source data results in a statistical discrepancy had an average size of 0.8 percent since 1947[3]. Additionally, depending on quarter, GDI is produced on a one-to-two-month lag compared to GDP.
Uses
The NFB sector is the most widely used sector for tracking quarterly labor productivity, due to its wide coverage and connection to GDP, which is the most-used measure of US output. The NFC sector, on the other hand, uses an income-based measure of output (GDI), which allows for a look at the types of income data. Most notably, profits and by extension unit profits can be estimated. By comparing unit labor costs and unit profits, the distribution of income to workers and business owners in the production process can be observed.
For more information check out our productivity homepage and data page. And feel free to contact us.
[2]Shawn Sprague, "GDP, GDI, and GDO: an evaluation of output measures for productivity analysis," Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2026, https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2026.2
[3]Bureau of Economic Analysis: Why do gross domestic product (GDP) and gross domestic income (GDI) differ, and what does that imply?
Last Modified Date: July 3, 2026