News Release - MULTIFACTOR PRODUCTIVITY TRENDS IN MANUFACTURING - 2014
Manufacturing sector multifactor productivity decreased at a 1.0-percent annual rate in 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This decrease followed a 0.1-percent increase in 2013. The 2014 decline reflected a 1.7-percent increase in output and a 2.6-percent increase in combined inputs. (See table A, table 1.)
Multifactor productivity is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of combined units of labor input, capital services, and intermediate inputs. It is designed to measure the joint influences of technological change, efficiency improvements, returns to scale, reallocation of resources, and other factors of economic growth, allowing for the effects of capital, labor, and intermediate inputs.
Multifactor productivity annual measures differ from BLS quarterly labor productivity or output per hour measures because the former also includes information on capital services, shifts in the composition of the workforce, and intermediate inputs. Additionally, much of the source data needed to construct multifactor productivity measures is not available on a quarterly basis.
Durable manufacturing sector multifactor productivity decreased 2.5-percent in 2014, following a 0.5-percent increase in 2013. Nondurable manufacturing sector multifactor productivity increased 0.5 percent in 2014, following a 0.2-percent decrease in 2013. (See table C, table 3.)
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