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TABLE 1-1 Change in Labor Productivity of Major Sectors: 1991-2001

Output per hour

Index: 1991 = 100.0

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NOTES: Labor productivity for transportation measures quality-adjusted ton- and passenger-miles per hour. Quality adjustment corrects for differences in services and handling, e.g., the difference between flying first class and coach or differences in the handling requirements and revenue generation of high- and low-value commodities. Petroleum pipeline labor productivity is measured by output per employee.

Labor productivity for transportation is calculated by dividing an index of output by an index of employee hours. The transportation output index is a weighted average of output indexes of railroad, trucking, and air transportation. The shares of each mode in total transportation value added (Gross Domestic Product) are used as annual weighting factors. The index of transportation employee hours is computed by weighting the employee hour indexes of each mode by its share in total transportation employees. The modal output and employee hour indexes were initially estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics using 1987 as the base year.

SOURCES: Transportation—U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, calculations based on data from U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Office of Productivity and Technology, "Industry Productivity Database," available at http://www.bls.gov, as of October 2003; and U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Gross Domestic Product by Industry," available at http://www.bea.gov, as of October 2003. Manufacturing and business—USDOL, BLS, Office of Productivity and Technology, "Industry Productivity Database," available at http://www.bls.gov, as of October 2003.