Historical, technical                      USDL 99-119
  information:   (202) 606-5618            FOR RELEASE: 10:00 a.m. EDT
Media contact:   (202) 606-5902            Tuesday, May 4, 1999
Internet: http://stats.bls.gov/iprhome.htm


                              
  PRODUCTIVITY BY INDUSTRY: SERVICE SECTOR AND MINING, 1997
                              
                              
     The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department
of Labor reported today on labor productivity changes in
1997 for selected industries in the service and the mining
sectors of the U.S. economy.  Labor productivity--defined as
output per hour--rose in 1997 for most of the industries
measured by BLS in these sectors.
     In 1997, output per hour increased in 74 percent of the
service and mining industries, as measured at the 3-digit
level of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
Manual.  Output, which is the production of goods and
services, rose in 81 percent of the industries at the 3-
digit level, while hours of labor rose in 72 percent of the
industries.
     The attached table presents data for industries in the
service sector and in mining for which BLS publishes
productivity series at the 2-, 3-, and 4-digit levels.  In
general, the analysis that follows will focus on industries
at the 2- and 3-digit levels of aggregation.
     Productivity data for detailed industries in the
manufacturing sector for 1997 are not yet available.  (See
section on "Manufacturing data," page 2.)


Transportation, communications, and utilities

     Productivity gains were recorded in the three
transportation industries for which 1997 data are available:
Productivity advanced by 3.4 percent in the U. S. postal
service; by 1.1 percent in trucking, except local; and by
0.9 percent in air transportation.  Among communications
industries, increases in output per hour were registered in
cable and other pay TV services (3.0 percent) and in
telephone communications (0.5 percent).  In contrast,
productivity fell by 4.3 percent in radio and television
broadcasting.  Both of the utilities industries measured by
BLS posted gains in productivity in 1997; output per hour
climbed by 3.4 percent in gas utilities and by 2.7 percent
in electric utilities.


                           -2-

Wholesale trade

     Currently, BLS measures labor productivity for one
industry in the wholesale trade sector: scrap and waste
materials.  That industry experienced a strong rise in
productivity of 6.0 percent in 1997.


Retail trade

     Of the 29 published 3-digit industries in retail trade,
20 recorded productivity increases in 1997.  The increases
ranged from 0.1 percent in paint, glass, and wallpaper
stores to 13.2 percent in household appliance stores.  Among
the nine industries with productivity decreases, the changes
ranged from a 0.6 percent reduction in output per hour in
gasoline service stations to a 12.7 percent drop in output
per hour in retail nurseries, lawn and garden supply stores.
     The 3-digit SIC industries in retail trade with the
highest levels of employment are eating and drinking places,
grocery stores, and department stores.  In 1997, output per
hour fell by 1.6 percent in eating and drinking places and
by 1.2 percent in grocery stores.  Productivity advanced by
3.9 percent in department stores.


Finance and services

     Gains in output per hour were posted in 1997 in seven
of the nine 3-digit SIC industries in finance and services
for which BLS publishes data.  In the largest industry
published in this sector, hotels and motels, productivity
dropped by 1.7 percent in 1997.  In the next largest
industry in terms of employment, commercial banks, output
per hour grew by 2.4 percent.


Mining

     Productivity increased in every measured mining
industry except one in 1997.  The biggest increase--14.2
percent--occurred in gold and silver ores.  The sole decline
in output per hour was recorded in oil and gas extraction,
which experienced a drop of 4.3 percent.


Manufacturing data

     Productivity data for detailed manufacturing industries
are not available for 1997.  This is because needed source
data from the 1997 Census of Manufactures are not yet
available from the Bureau of the Census.  Data on
productivity through 1996 for all 3- and 4-digit SIC
industries in manufacturing are presently available from
BLS.


                           -3-

------------------------------------------------------------
      Incorporation of improved consumer price indexes

     Output and productivity indexes for all retail trade
and services industries have been revised from 1992 forward
to reflect the incorporation of consumer price indexes using
the geometric mean formula.  Beginning with data for January
1999, the Bureau of Labor Statistics began using the
geometric mean formula at the lower level of aggregation for
most of its detailed consumer price indexes.  Previously,
the arithmetic mean formula was used at the lower level.
Utilizing the geometric mean formula accounts in part for
the substitutions that consumers make among similar items
when the items' relative prices change.  See the Consumer
Price Index web site at http://stats.bls.gov/cpihome.htm for
more information on the use of the geometric mean formula.
     Experimental consumer price indexes using the geometric
mean formula have been incorporated into output and
productivity indexes for all retail trade and services
industries measured by BLS for the period 1992 to 1997.  As
indicated above, the CPI program has begun using the
geometric mean formula at the lower level of aggregation for
most of its detailed consumer price indexes--some CPIs still
utilize the arithmetic mean formula at the lower level of
aggregation.  In each case where the CPI program is not
adopting the geometric mean formula, the industry
productivity program is following suit.  An example of a CPI
that is not using the geometric mean formula is the CPI for
cable television.  Thus, the productivity measure for cable
and other pay television services will continue to use an
arithmetic mean CPI.
     Consumer price indexes using the geometric mean formula
at the lower level of aggregation generally increase more
slowly than those using the arithmetic mean formula.  This
means that a switch to geometric mean CPIs usually leads to
higher measured growth rates of output and productivity.
Average annual growth rates of output and productivity for
periods beginning in 1992 generally have been revised upward
for most retail trade and services industries due to the use
of geometric mean CPIs, with the typical revision being less
than 1.0 percentage point.  These revisions should be kept
in mind when comparing productivity data for years before
and after 1992; for example, it is likely that, if the
geometric mean CPIs were available back to 1987, growth
rates of output per hour would also be revised upward for
1987-92 for many industries.  Further information on the
magnitude of the revisions can be obtained from the Industry
Productivity web site at http://stats.bls.gov/iprrev.htm or
by phoning the Division of Industry Productivity Studies
(202-606-5618).
------------------------------------------------------------

                           -4-

                       Technical note


Coverage

     In the service-producing sector, the BLS industry
productivity series cover 100 percent of employment in
retail trade, 90 percent in communications and utilities, 57
percent in transportation, 17 percent in finance and
services, and 2 percent in wholesale trade.  In the goods-
producing sector, the BLS industry productivity series cover
100 percent of employment in manufacturing and 96 percent in
mining; the construction sector is not covered.  In the
sectors with low coverage, a lack of adequate basic data
and, in some cases, serious conceptual issues have prevented
development of productivity measures.  (The coverage
percentages noted here relate to unpublished as well as
published series.  For information on series that do not
meet BLS publication standards, see discussion on page 5.)


Revisions

     The data in this news release reflect revisions to
series as published in table 42 of the Monthly Labor Review
and in the article, "BLS Completes Major Expansion of
Industry Productivity Series," by John Duke and Lisa Usher,
Monthly Labor Review, September 1998, pp. 35-51.  Indexes of
productivity by industry have been revised for the years
1993 to 1996 for most service-sector industries.  These
revisions are due to the incorporation of improved price
indexes, described in the box on page 3, and to revised
annual receipts data from the Census Bureau.  Productivity
indexes for mining industries also have been revised.  The
revised series can be obtained in several ways: by visiting
the Industry Productivity web site
(http://stats.bls.gov/iprhome.htm); by calling the Division
of Industry Productivity Studies (202-606-5618); or by
sending a request by e-mail (dipsweb@bls.gov).
     All of the measures for 1997 in this news release are
preliminary and subject to revision.


Productivity measurement

     The productivity measures in this release describe the
relationship between output and the labor time involved in
its production.  They show the changes from period to period
in the amount of goods and services produced per hour.
Although these measures relate output to hours of employees
or all persons engaged in an industry, they do not measure
the specific contribution of labor, capital, or any other
factor of production.  Rather, they reflect the joint
effects of many influences, including changes in technology;
capital investment; level of output; utilization of
capacity, energy, and materials; the organization of
production; managerial skill; and the characteristics and
effort of the workforce.
     Published productivity data for 499 industries in the
goods-producing and service-producing sectors are available
on the Internet at http://stats.bls.gov/iprhome.htm.
Productivity series for an additional 228 industries have
been withheld from publication because they do not meet BLS
publication standards.  Unpublished data can be requested by
phoning 202-606-5618 or by sending e-mail to
dipsweb@bls.gov.


                           -5-

     The reader should note that, occasionally, the year-to-
year movements in productivity measures may be somewhat
erratic, particularly in the smaller industries.  The annual
changes in an industry's productivity are based on sample
data, which are likely to differ from data generated by a
census of establishments in the industry.  As a result, long-
term trends tend to be more reliable indicators of the
performance of an industry than are the year-to-year
changes.


     Information in this release will be made available to
sensory impaired individuals upon request.  Voice phone: 202-
606-7828, TDD phone: 202-606-5897, TDD message referral
phone number: 1-800-326-2577.



Table 1. Annual percent change in output per hour, output, and employee hours for selected industries

                                                                                                Annual   percent   change
                                                                  1997           1987-97         1996-97         1996-97       1996-97 
                                                               Employment (1)     Output          Output         
SIC Code                  Industry                             (thousands)       per hour (2)    per hour (2)     Output        Hours (3)     


                           Mining

102             Copper ores                                           16             1.7             2.0            1.0         -1.0
104             Gold and silver ores                                  19             4.7            14.2           11.1         -2.8
1041            Gold ores                                             17             3.8            13.5            9.1         -3.8
12              Coal mining                                           96             5.9             6.2            3.0         -3.0
122             Bituminous coal and lignite mining                    90             5.9             5.2            3.1         -2.1
13              Oil and gas extraction                               335             0.4            -4.3            0.1          4.6
131             Crude petroleum and natural gas                      143             2.3             1.9            0.1         -1.8
14              Nonmetallic minerals, except fuels                   108             0.8             4.2            5.8          1.5
142             Crushed and broken stone                              41             1.4             7.1           10.5          3.2

                       Transportation

4011            Railroad transportation                              202       (4)   5.9              NA             NA           NA
4213            Trucking, except local                               844             2.8             1.1            3.4          2.3
43              United states postal service (5)                     858             0.8             3.4            3.7          0.3
4512,13,22(pts) Air transportation                                   647             1.1             0.9            5.2          4.3

                  Communications and utilities

481             Telephone communications                             975             4.8             0.5            6.5          6.0
483             Radio and television broadcasting                    243             0.1            -4.3           -2.7          1.7
4832            Radio broadcasting stations                          115             3.2             1.2            3.9          2.8
4833            Television broadcasting stations                     128            -1.4            -5.8           -4.9          1.0
484             Cable and other pay TV services                      175            -1.7             3.0            4.9          1.8
491,2,3         Gas and electric utilities                           671             3.6             3.1           -0.2         -3.2
491,3(pt)       Electric utilities                                   511             4.2             2.7            1.3         -1.3
492,3(pt)       Gas utilities                                        160             1.8             3.4           -5.6         -8.7

                   Wholesale and retail trade

5093            Scrap and waste materials                            156             1.5             6.0            4.0         -1.9

521             Lumber and other building materials dealers          577             2.2             2.0            7.4          5.3
523             Paint, glass, and wallpaper stores                    72             2.8             0.1            1.1          1.0
525             Hardware stores                                      178             1.5             0.6           -0.4         -0.9
526             Retail nurseries, lawn and garden supply stores      106             1.8           -12.7           -6.6          6.9

531             Department stores                                  2,389             2.3             3.9            6.5          2.5
533             Variety stores                                       141             9.4             5.8            8.2          2.3
539             Miscellaneous general merchandise stores             203             5.2             0.4            0.7          0.3

54              Food stores                                        3,661            -1.1            -1.1            0.0          1.1
541             Grocery stores                                     3,177            -1.2            -1.2           -0.6          0.7
542             Meat and fish (seafood) markets                       57            -1.0             2.2           -0.8         -2.9
546             Retail bakeries                                      232            -0.2            11.8           22.6          9.7

551             New and used car dealers                           1,051             0.7            -0.8            1.5          2.2
553             Auto and home supply stores                          418             0.9            -3.7           -1.0          2.9
554             Gasoline service stations                            700             1.5            -0.6            0.2          0.8

56              Apparel and accessory stores                       1,152             3.4             2.1            2.4          0.3
561             Men's and boy's wear stores                           84             3.4            10.1            8.8         -1.2
562             Women's clothing stores                              296             3.0             0.4           -3.7         -4.1
565             Family clothing stores                               356             3.7             2.0            4.3          2.3
566             Shoe stores                                          204             3.7             0.6            2.2          1.6
569             Miscellaneous apparel and accessory stores           108             2.5            -8.5           -2.0          7.1

57              Furniture, home furnishings, and equipment stores  1,131             4.9             4.6            9.7          4.9
571             Furniture and homefurnishings stores                 590             2.3             2.6            8.8          6.0
5712            Furniture stores                                     330             2.5             6.1           10.3          3.9
5713            Floor covering stores                                104             0.2             0.5            5.7          5.2
5719            Miscellaneous home furnishings stores                142             3.2            -5.2            6.8         12.7
572             Household appliance stores                            83             4.1            13.2            7.3         -5.2
573             Radio, television, computer, and music stores        459             8.2             5.3           11.0          5.5
5731            Radio, television, and electronic stores             202             6.2            -4.5            2.0          6.7
5734            Computer and computer software stores                136            22.1            18.5           37.1         15.7
5735            Record and prerecorded tape stores                    86             3.3            16.0            1.8        -12.2

58              Eating and drinking places                         7,889            -0.6            -1.6            0.7          2.2
5812            Eating places                                      7,491            -0.6            -1.5            0.7          2.2
5813            Drinking places                                      398            -1.5            -3.0           -0.2          2.9

591             Drug and proprietary stores                          635             1.3             5.8            7.0          1.1
592             Liquor stores                                        142             0.8            -2.2            3.4          5.8
593             Used merchandise stores                              187             2.0             0.4            6.6          6.2
594             Miscellaneous shopping goods stores                1,160             2.2             4.2            4.8          0.5
5941            Sporting goods stores and bicycle shops              222             3.7             7.6            5.1         -2.4
5942            Book stores                                          142             1.4            -5.4            1.5          7.3
5943            Stationery stores                                     93            -1.0             7.2           15.8          8.0
5944            Jewelry stores                                       170             4.0             7.4            5.8         -1.5
5945            Hobby, toy, and game shops                           147             2.9             8.3            2.0         -5.8
5947            Gift, novelty, and souvenir shops                    265            -1.2             1.3            3.1          1.8
5949            Sewing, needlework, and piece goods stores            57             2.8             5.5            7.8          2.2
596             Nonstore retailers                                   566             4.0             7.0            8.9          1.8
5961            Catalog and mail-order houses                        234             2.5             8.5           12.0          3.3
5962            Merchandising machine operators                       81            -1.1            -8.1           -9.2         -1.1
598             Fuel dealers                                         103             0.6            -6.0           -7.7         -1.9
5983            Fuel oil dealers                                      53             0.7            -6.1           -8.1         -2.1
599             Retail stores, n.e.c.                                670             3.3             5.5            8.7          3.1
5992            Florists                                             167             2.0            14.2           13.4         -0.7

                      Finance and services

602             Commercial banks                                   1,460             3.0             2.4            2.5          0.1
701             Hotels and motels                                  1,728             0.8            -1.7            0.5          2.2

721             Laundry, cleaning, and garment services              534             0.8            -0.6            3.8          4.4
7213            Linen supply                                          70            -1.6             1.7            5.7          3.9
7215            Coin-operated laundries and drycleaning               61             2.7            -3.0            4.6          7.8
7216            Drycleaning plants, except rug cleaning              194            -1.8            -3.9            0.6          4.7
7217            Carpet and upholstery cleaning                        53             2.4            -1.5            6.2          7.9
7218            Industrial launderers                                 55             0.2            -1.3            2.3          3.7
722             Photographic studios, portrait                        86             3.1             7.1            2.1         -4.7
723             Beauty shops                                         713             0.9             2.5            4.3          1.8
724             Barber shops                                          51             4.4            20.2            6.4        -11.5
726             Funeral services and crematories                     104             0.1             4.3            0.7         -3.5

753             Automotive repair shops                              903             1.5             1.4            2.7          1.2
783             Motion picture theaters                              132             0.1             0.4            4.7          4.3


n.a. = not available.

(1)  Employment figures are based primarily on data from the BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and the Current Population                                                
Survey (CPS).  Other sources are: the Association of American Railroads, the Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Postal Service.
(2)  Output per employee hour is measured in mining, transportation, communications, and in SICs 5093, 531, 551, 602, and 783.
Output per employee is used for SIC 4213 and SIC 4512,13,22 (pts).  Output per hour of all persons is used for all trade and services
industries except SICs 531, 551, and 783.  All persons includes self-employed and unpaid family workers as well as employees.
(3)  Employee hours are measured in mining, transportation, communications, and in SICs 5093, 531, 551, 602, and 783. Employment is used
instead of hours for SIC 4213 and SIC 4512,13,22(pts) due to a lack of hours data.  Hours of all persons is used for all trade and service
industries except SICs 531, 551, and 783. All persons includes self-employed and unpaid family workers as well as employees.
(4)  1987 to 1996.
(5)  Employee hours in SIC 43 are based on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employee years, as reported in the U.S. Postal Service
budget.  FTE employee years are computed by dividing total hours of full-time, part-time, and intermittent workers by the number
of hours in a standard work year.  The output and hours for SIC 43 reflect the Federal fiscal year.