December 30, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Industries with fastest productivity growth

The eight industries with the highest productivity growth rates over the 1990–2000 period each experienced growth in output per hour of more than 12 percent per year, on average.

[Chart data—TXT]

The industries with the most rapid productivity growth reflect the importance of the high-tech sector on the U.S. economy during the 1990s, and includes industries that were major users or distributors of high-tech equipment as well as the industries producing those goods.

Output per hour grew 31.7 percent per year, on average, in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing and 27.0 percent per year in semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing. 

After computer and semiconductor manufacturing, productivity grew most rapidly for professional and commercial equipment wholesalers (this industry includes establishments engaged in the distribution of such products as computers and other equipment); electronics and appliance stores; electronic shopping and mail-order houses; software publishers; communications equipment manufacturing; and electric goods wholesalers.

This information is from the BLS Productivity and Costs Program.  For additional information, see "Industry productivity trends under the North American Industry Classification system," by Matthew Russell, Paul Takac, and Lisa Usher, Monthly Labor Review, November 2004.