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Transportation Satellite Accounts Mark New Way Of Measuring Transportation Services in America

Contact BTS 1-99 Carole Zok 202-366-5694

Friday, April 30, 1999 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) today released Transportation Satellite Accounts: A New Way of Measuring Transportation Services in America, which shows that transportation’s influence on the competitiveness of U.S. products in international markets may be greater than previously thought.

"President Clinton recently characterized America as the most dynamic, competitive, job-creating economy in history," U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said. "This report underscores the importance of efficient and flexible transportation in advancing America’s growth and competitiveness domestically and internationally."

Before the Transportation Satellite Accounts (TSA), U.S. domestic transportation services were thought to have accounted for about 6 percent of the cost of U. S. agricultural products, when, in fact, they account for 14 percent. This report introduces a new accounting tool that, for the first time, offers government and private-sector decision makers an accurate estimate of the value transportation services add to the U.S. economy.

Until now, national measures of transportation services counted only the value of for-hire transportation firms–such as railroads, transit, and common carrier trucking companies –that provide services on a fee basis. TSAs permit measurement of both in-house and for-hire transportation services.

Developed jointly by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the TSAs reveal important contributions of transportation to the U.S. economy. Among them are the following:

• Transportation services contributed about $313 billion or 5 percent of the total value-added in the U.S. economy in 1992, the latest year for which economic census data are available. The value-added by in-house transportation services was about $121 billion, compared with about $192 billion contributed by for-hire transportation.
• Of the total value-added by transportation services, trucking accounted for 65 percent: 38 percent for in-house trucking and 27 percent for for-hire trucking. Air transportation and railroads accounted for 13 and 11 percent, respectively.
• Agriculture, construction, and wholesale/retail trade are the most transportation intensive sectors. Although manufacturing is the most intensive user of for-hire transportation services and consumes the most transportation services in absolute terms, the agriculture, construction, and wholesale-retail trade sectors rank higher in overall transportation intensity because of their heavier reliance on in-house services.
• Total transportation costs embodied in construction and agricultural products are higher than those embodied in manufactured products on a per-dollar basis. Therefore, transportation costs affect agricultural product prices and markets more strongly than manufacturing or mining products. A $1 increase in the final demand for agricultural products will require an additional 14.2 cents worth in transportation services, compared with 9.1 cents for manufactured goods, and about 8 cents for mining products.
• Transportation continues to play a key role in the economy, even as the economy shifts from a focus on manufacturing to a focus on services. Demand for for-hire transportation generated from services sector growth between 1992 and 1996 was about $6 billion. Analysis based on TSA data shows that the services sector used an additional $12 billion of in-house transportation to support this growth.

Included with the report is a CD-ROM with data for nearly 500 industries and commodities, plus related documents from the TSAs. Analysts can use the data in this CD-ROM to do transportation impact analyses and projections.

To order free copies of Transportation Satellite Accounts: A New Way of Measuring Transportation Services in America, call 202-366-DATA (3282), fax 202-366-3640, or write to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room 3430, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. The electronic version of this report is available on the BTS Internet site, www.bts.gov.