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April, 1988, Vol. 111, No. 4

Productivity trends in the cotton and synthetic broad woven fabrics industry

Mark W. Dumas and J. Edwin Henneberger

Productivity, as measured by output per hour, grew at an average annual rate of 3.7 percent per year from 1972 to 1986 in the cotton and synthetic broad woven fabrics industry.¹  This rate of increase was significantly higher than the 2.5-percent rate for the average of all manufacturing industries. Advances in industry productivity have been aided by substantial investments in capital and diffusion of technological advances such as shuttleless looms. In response to the recent import surge from low-wage foreign competitors, industry modernization and restructuring are taking place as part of an ongoing attempt to sustain productivity growth.

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Footnotes

1 The cotton and synthetic broad woven fabrics industry includes both SIC 2211 and SIC 2221 (see Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987 Edition, Office of Management and Budget). Establishments in these industries are primarily engaged in weaving fabrics more than 12 inches in width. Those establishments classified in SIC 2211 weave fabrics that are wholly or chiefly cotton. Fabrics produced by establishments classified in SIC 2221 are composed wholly or chiefly of silk and manmade fibers including glass.

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