The US Bureau of Labor Statistics Productivity Program

Abstract

This chapter describes the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) productivity program. It presents the BLS’s methodology and data sources used to produce estimates of aggregate and industry-level labor and multifactor productivity growth, along with a number of other productivity-related measures including unit labor costs, labor compensation, and labor share. The chapter provides a detailed description of the main elements of BLS’s productivity measures including: output concepts; how BLS calculates hours worked by combining data from three different surveys; how it accounts for changes in the composition of the labor force; its methodology for estimating capital services; and data sources for intermediate inputs. The chapter also discusses some of the measurement challenges faced by the BLS, and concludes with a discussion of projects currently under way to expand and improve its productivity statistics.