November 6, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Majority of employment in industries with rising productivity

From 1987 to 1996, industries with rising productivity accounted for 68 percent of employment in the industries measured. Almost half of the industries had productivity growth rates in the range between 0.0 and 3.0 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

The proportion of employment in industries experiencing productivity growth varied by sector. In the mining sector, productivity rose in industries accounting for 99 percent of employment. In communications and utilities and in finance and services, 85 percent of employment was in industries in which productivity rose over the period. In the manufacturing sector, industries with rising productivity accounted for 78 percent of employment.

Trade-at 49 percent-was the only major sector to report that less than half of its workers were employed in industries that recorded productivity gains over the 1987 to 1996 period.

These data are a product of the BLS Industry Productivity program. Data are subject to revision. Additional information is available from "BLS completes major expansion of industry productivity series", Monthly Labor Review, September 1998.