August 22, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Multifactor productivity in detailed manufacturing industries

Multifactor productivity rose in 58 of the 86 detailed manufacturing industries between 2004 and 2005.

[Chart data—TXT]

Multifactor productivity rose by 3 percent or more in 29 industries, but declined in 28 industries in 2005.

Five industries registered double-digit growth in multifactor productivity. The largest increase in multifactor productivity, 27.6 percent, occurred in computer and peripheral equipment. Apparel knitting mills recorded an increase of 18.9 percent in multifactor productivity.

Output rose rapidly in the five industries with the largest productivity increases. Combined inputs declined in all five except computer and peripheral equipment. 

The largest multifactor productivity decline was 10.9 percent in railroad rolling stock, where output increased but combined inputs rose much more rapidly.

These data are from the BLS Multifactor Productivity program. Productivity data are subject to revision. To learn more, see "Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Manufacturing Industries, 2005," (PDF) (TXT) news release 07-1281. This news release presents multifactor productivity for all four-digit manufacturing industries based, for the first time, on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Multifactor productivity indexes relate the change in output to the change in the combination of labor, capital, and intermediate purchases consumed in producing that output.