May 22, 2009
(The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Productivity growth in selected service-providing industries, 2007
In 2007, output per hour increased in 31 of the 45 detailed service-providing industries studied by BLS.
[Chart data—TXT]
Three service-providing industries recorded productivity growth greater than fifteen percent in 2007: video tape and disc rental, 26.5 percent; bowling centers, 19.7 percent; and passenger car rental, 16.8 percent. Each of these industries posted large reductions in hours.
Productivity fell most, 11.4 percent, in diagnostic imaging centers, due mostly to a rapid rise in hours.
Between 1987 and 2007, labor productivity increased in 38 of the 45 detailed service-providing industries. Software publishers recorded the greatest productivity growth over the period, 15.6 percent per year on average, followed by wireless telecommunications carriers, with average yearly growth of 9.4 percent.
This information is from the BLS Productivity and Costs program. Labor productivity is defined as output per hour. Productivity data are subject to revision. Additional information is available from "Productivity and Costs by Industry: Selected Service-Providing and Mining Industries, 2007" (PDF) (HTML), news release USDL 09-0546.
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