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Productivity
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Technical Notes
Technical notes contain detail on how we create our data and short explanations of our concepts. For additional published articles on concepts and measurement see Articles and Research. Additionally, the BLS Handbook of Methods presents detailed explanations of how the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) obtains and prepares the economic data it publishes.
Recent Method Research and Implementation
- Starting with data released on November 18th, 2022, the Total Factor Productivity for Major Industries release will reflect new methods and data sources for the estimation of labor composition, which is a measure of the changing skill composition of the work force. Labor composition is used to adjust the number of hours worked by industry to estimate labor input. Read more about the method change.
- Starting with data released on November 3rd, 2022, the Productivity and Costs release will use the BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) all-employee hours data series to estimate hours worked. Subsequent Productivity data releases will incorporate this method as they are published in 2023. Read more about the method change.
Labor Productivity
- Industry Hours and Employment - detailed industries. May 2014.
- Construction of Employment and Hours for Self-Employed and Other Nonfarm Workers and for All Farm Workers, Using Current Population Survey Data for Primary and Secondary Jobs. March 2006. (PDF)
- Construction of Average Weekly Hours for Supervisory and Nonproduction Wage and Salary Workers in Detailed Industries. August 2005. (PDF)
- Labor Productivity Hours Data Information, 2004
- Construction of Average Weekly Hours for Supervisory and Nonproduction Wage and Salary Workers in Private Nonfarm Establishments. October 2004. (PDF)
- Hours at Work Ratios Derived from the Employment Cost Index, 2001–2003. Brief description of the Bureau of Labor Statistics new ratios of hours at work to hours paid and reasons for the discontinuation of the Hours at Work Survey. (PDF)
Total Factor Productivity
The BLS Productivity program replaced the term multifactor productivity (MFP) with total factor productivity (TFP) beginning with the 2020 data release. This was a change in terminology only and does not affect the data or methodology. The use of the term total factor productivity will improve the visibility and accessibility of our data and was accompanied by changes to the BLS website and future productivity news releases.
- Method Change for Estimating Sectoral Output, 2017
- Overview of Capital Inputs for the BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures, 2017 (PDF)
- Changes in the Composition of Labor for BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures, 2016 (PDF)
- Overview of Output Measures Used by BLS to Construct Productivity Statistics for Major Sectors of the U.S. Economy, 2014 (PDF)
- Technical Note on Public R&D and Productivity Growth, 2012 (PDF)
- Technical Information About the BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures for Major Sectors and 18 NAICS 3-digit Manufacturing Industries, 2007 (PDF)
- Changes in the Composition of Labor for BLS Multifactor Productivity Measures, 2002 (PDF)
- Productivity measurement with changing-weight indexes of outputs and inputs, 1996 (PDF)
- The impact of research and development on productivity growth, 1989 (PDF)
- Data sources and methods for measuring multifactor productivity in the utility services industries (SIC 49) (PDF)