May 25, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Multifactor productivity, 1996-2006

In the private business sector, multifactor productivity—output per combined units of labor and capital inputs—grew at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in 2006.

[Chart data—TXT]

The multifactor productivity gain in 2006 reflected a 3.8 percent increase in output and a 2.7 percent increase in the combined inputs of capital and labor. 

Capital services grew 3.0 percent. Labor input posted an increase of 2.6 percent, as both hours worked and labor composition rose. The capital-labor ratio (capital services per hour of all persons) increased by 0.9 percent.

These data are from the Multifactor Productivity program. Productivity data are subject to revision. To learn more, see "Preliminary Multifactor Productivity Trends, 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0758. A change in multifactor productivity reflects the change in output that cannot be accounted for by the change in combined inputs of labor and capital.