This means that no allowance is made for possible increases in output per unit of labor.  In an unrelated program in which the Labor Department does estimate output per employee for more than two-thirds of federal civilian employees, it found an average annual rate of productivity improvement of 1.7% during the 1980s.
productivity rose no more than half as quickly in the rest of the nonbusiness sector
Even if it is assumed that productivity rose no more than half as quickly in the rest of the nonbusiness sector, this Labor Department estimate indicates a downward bias in the real GNP estimates of 0.2 percentage point a year, on average.
This means that no allowance is made for possible increases in output per unit of labor.  In an unrelated program in which the Labor Department does estimate output per employee for more than two-thirds of federal civilian employees, it found an average annual rate of productivity improvement of 1.7% during the 1980s.</s>Even if it is assumed that productivity rose no more than half as quickly in the rest of the nonbusiness sector, this Labor Department estimate indicates a downward bias in the real GNP estimates of 0.2 percentage point a year, on average.</s>productivity rose no more than half as quickly in the rest of the nonbusiness sector