Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Productivity

Glossary

[ A | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | K | L | M | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W ]

A Back to Top Back to Top

Asset share in industry capital income
The portion of the total income from capital attributed to a particular capital asset.
Average weekly hours worked
The total number of hours worked over a specified period of time, divided by the total number of weeks worked in the time period.

C Back to Top Back to Top

Capital composition
The portion of change in capital services that cannot be attributed to changes in capital stock.
Capital costs
The cost to produce output of goods and services that is attributed to the use of capital. (Also known as capital income.)
Capital hours ratio
The ratio of the amount of capital services used relative to the amount of labor hours used to produce output. Increases in the capital-to-hours ratio reflect increases in the intensity of capital used in the production process. (Also known as capital-to-hours ratio, capital services per hour of all persons, or capital intensity.)
Capital productivity
The efficiency at which capital services are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output produced per unit of capital services input. (Also known as output per unit of capital services.)
Capital rental prices
The implicit wage that capital stock earns. Unlike labor services, which are rented explicitly with wages, the owner and user of capital services are the usually the same. Capital goods are typically bought in one period and then used in future periods. Therefore, they must be measured implicitly.
Capital services
The flow of the services derived from physical assets (equipment, structures, inventories, and land) and intellectual property used to produce output. (Also known as capital, or real capital input.)
Capital's share in costs
The portion of the total costs to produce output that can be attributed to capital services. (Also known as capital cost share.)
Combined inputs
All the inputs that are used directly to produce output. For the private business and private business sector, inputs include labor and capital only. For all other sectors and industries, inputs include labor, capital, and intermediate purchases. (Also known as combined input quantity.)
Combined inputs costs
The total cost of all inputs used to produce output.
Compound annual rate
Expresses increases and decreases in a measure over time as a constant rate of change. Quarterly rates of change are typically expressed as a compound annual rate, which is an annualized rate—what the annual rate would be if the quarterly rate were maintained for the entire year.
Constant dollar
Dollar values that have been adjusted to remove the effects of price changes over time, allowing for meaningful comparison of values from different time periods.
Consumer price series
An index that measures changes in the level of consumer prices. It is used to calculate real compensation per hour.
Contribution of all other capital services intensity
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to capital services. (Also known as contribution of other capital services intensity, or contribution of all other capital services.)
Contribution of capital intensity
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to capital services.
Contribution of information capital intensity
The portion of labor productivity growth attributed to information capital. (Also known as contribution of information processing equipment.) See information capital.
Contribution of intellectual property products
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to all other intellectual property products. (Also known as contribution of intellectual property products intensity.)
Contribution of intermediate inputs
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to energy, material, and purchased services.
Contribution of intermediate purchases intensity
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to purchased intermediate inputs. (Also known as contribution of intermediate purchases.)
Contribution of labor composition
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to the composition of the labor force.
Contribution of other capital services intensity
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to other capital services.
Contribution of research and development intensity
The portion of labor productivity change attributed to research and development. (Also known as contribution of research and development.)
Current dollar
The market value of an item in the period being measured that has not been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation over time. (Also known as nominal output.)

D Back to Top Back to Top

Depreciation rate of wealth stock
The rate at which the value of an asset or group of assets declines with age.

E Back to Top Back to Top

Employment
The total numbers of wage and salary workers, unincorporated self-employed workers, and unpaid family workers working within business establishments. An individual who works multiple jobs at separate establishments would have each job included in the number of employees. (Also known as number of employees.)
Energy
The amount of fuel, electricity, and other forms of energy used to produce output.

F Back to Top Back to Top

Fisher index
The geometric mean of a Laspeyres index (which is base-year weighted) and a Paashe index (which is current-year weighted).

G Back to Top Back to Top

Government enterprises
Businesses that are sponsored or supported by the government. Government agencies that cover a substantial portion of their operating costs by selling goods and services to the public and that maintain their own separate accounts.
Gross output
The total output produced by an industry or sector. It is measured as the industry or sector's sales or receipts plus commodity taxes and changes in inventories, which can include sales to final users in the economy (GDP) or sales to other industries (intermediate inputs). (Also known as nominal.) See value of production.

H Back to Top Back to Top

Hourly compensation
The sum of wage and salary accruals and supplements to wages and salaries per hour of labor services used to produce output. Wage and salary accruals consist of the monetary remuneration of employees. Supplements to wages and salaries consist of employer contributions for social insurance and employer payments (including payments in kind) to private pension and profit-sharing plans, group health and life insurance plans, privately administered workers' compensation plans. (Also known as compensation per hour.)
Hours worked
The total number of hours worked by wage and salary workers, unincorporated self-employed workers, and unpaid family workers to produce output. (Also known as labor hours, hours, hours of all persons, or number of hours.)

I Back to Top Back to Top

Implicit combined inputs deflator
An index of the change over time in the cost to produce output relative to a base period.
Implicit price deflator
An index of the change over time in the value of output relative to a base period. (Also known as implicit output deflator.)
Industry
A group of business or government establishments that produce similar products or provide similar services as defined by classification systems such as the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS).
Input-output price ratio
The ratio of the aggregate price of capital services and labor hours relative to the price of the output.
Information capital
Information or data that has intrinsic value which can be shared and leveraged within and between organizations.
Input price
The cost to produce goods and services.
Intermediate inputs
The goods and services (including energy, raw materials, semi-finished goods, and services that are purchased from all sources) that are used in the production process to produce other goods or services rather than for final consumption.
Intermediate purchases
The value of produced goods and services which are used as energy, materials, and purchased services in an industry or sector's production process.
Intermediate purchases costs
The monetary payments made for intermediate purchases (energy, materials, and purchased services) used to produce output.
Intermediate purchases cost share
The proportion of the total cost to produce output that is attributed to the cost of consumed intermediate purchases (energy, materials, and purchased services).
Intermediate purchases productivity
The efficiency at which intermediate purchases are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output produced per unit of intermediate purchases.
Intermediate purchases to hours ratio
The change in the amount of intermediate purchases used relative to the change in the amount of labor used to produce output.
Investment price deflator
The change in the cost of a unit of capital services over time.

K Back to Top Back to Top

KLEMS
An acronym for "Capital, Labor, Energy, Materials, and Services," the basic inputs into the production process. At the industry level, KLEMS multi-factor productivity is the portion of sectoral output growth that cannot be explained by the growth in these inputs.

L Back to Top Back to Top

Labor compensation
Monetary and non-monetary payments to or on behalf of individuals for labor services used to produce output. Compensation may include salaries, wages, bonuses, contributions to benefits plans, and other forms of payment. (Also known as labor compensation costs, or compensation.)
Labor composition
The degree to which shifts in the age, education, and gender of the work force affect measures of labor input. When constructing multifactor productivity, it is used to adjust labor hours for changes in the composition of the labor force.
Labor input
The weighted aggregate of time worked by people of different age groups, gender, or level of education to produce output.
Labor productivity
The efficiency at which labor hours are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output per hour of labor. (Also known as output per hour, or output per hour of all persons.)
Labor's share in costs
The portion of the total costs to produce output that can be attributed to the cost of labor. (Also known as labor cost share.)

M Back to Top Back to Top

Major sector
A group of business or government establishments which are related to each other through similarities in either the ownership or the goods and services they produce. For major sectors, those similarities are very broadly defined such as privately-owned establishments. Common major sectors are classified and defined within the Bureau of Economic Analysis's (BEA) National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA).
Materials
The amount of commodities, in the form of intermediate materials, used to produce output. (Also known as materials inputs.)
Measure
A numeric value that represent an aspect of size, scale, central tendency, growth, etc. Examples includes measures of productivity, measures of output, and measures of labor hours.
Multifactor productivity
The efficiency at which measured inputs are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output per unit of combined input. Combined inputs include capital and labor (for major sectors) or capital, labor, and intermediate inputs (for industries).

N Back to Top Back to Top

NAICS
An acronym for North American Industry Classification System. A classification system developed jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide improved comparability in industrial statistics across North America. NAICS replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system.
NIPA
An acronym for National Income and Product Accounts, which is the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) economic account that shows the value and composition of national output and the distribution of incomes generated in its production.
Nominal output
The value of goods and services produced, expressed in current dollars.
Nonfinancial corporations
Nonfinancial corporations, relative to the business sector, exclude unincorporated businesses and those corporations classified as offices of bank holding companies, other holding companies, and offices in the finance and insurance sector.
Nonlabor payments
The value of output less the cost for labor services.
Nonprofit institutions
Establishments operated on a not-for-profit basis based on U.S. tax law.

O Back to Top Back to Top

Output
The amount of goods and services produced.
Output per employee
The amount of goods or services a person can produce over an interval of time, such as a year, regardless of the actual number of hours worked.
Output per unit of energy
The efficiency at which energy inputs are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output per unit of energy input.
Output per unit of materials
The efficiency at which materials are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output per material input.
Output per unit of purchased services
The efficiency at which purchased services are utilized in producing output of goods and services, measured as output per unit of purchased services input.
Owner-occupied housing
A form of housing tenure where the occupant owns the home in which they live, rather than paying rent.

P Back to Top Back to Top

Price deflator
The change in the value of currency over time. It can be used to convert current-dollar values to constant-dollar values.
Productive capital stock
The implicit amount of new investment that would be required to produce the same present-day services as the existing level of capital assets.
Productivity
A measure of economic efficiency that shows how effectively economic inputs are converted into goods and services.
Profits
The portion of total income from the sale of goods and services that exceeds the total costs of producing those goods and services.
Purchased services
The amount of outside contract work used to produce output.

R Back to Top Back to Top

Rate of change
A mathematical function that gauges the rate at which a measure changes over time. It is calculated using the ratio of the change in the measure to the change in time.
Real hourly compensation
The average monetary payments made to individuals for an hour of labor service, adjusted for inflation. See hourly compensation.
Real output
The value of receipts or sales adjusted for inflation. See output.
Real value-added output
The difference (adjusted for inflation) between the output of goods and services, and the intermediate inputs consumed to produce that output. See value-added output.

S Back to Top Back to Top

Seasonally adjusted
Statistical modification to remove the influences of predictable patterns over a year, to allow more consistent comparison across time periods, including months and quarters.
Sectorally-adjusted gross output
The difference between the total of output that has been adjusted for changes in inventory (gross output) and the subtotal of goods and services shipped among related establishments, which are referred to as intra-industry and intra-sectoral shipments.
Sources of growth in real output
Sources of output growth include multifactor productivity, the contribution of labor input (labor hours and labor composition), and the contribution of capital input (capital stock and capital composition).
Sources of labor productivity growth
Sources of labor productivity growth include multifactor productivity growth (improvements in technology, improvements in economies of scale, improvements in management techniques), capital intensity growth (capital per hour), and labor composition growth (improvements in the skills of the labor force).

T Back to Top Back to Top

Time series
A set of numbers that represents the change over time in some measurable aspect of a group of people or group of related items. Examples of a time series include measures of labor productivity for a group of industry workers and measures of capital services for an industry's capital assets.
Tornqvist index
An index calculated using a weighted geometric mean of growth rates.
Total unit costs
The total payments (costs) for each unit of output produced where costs are measured as a difference between total income and profits.

U Back to Top Back to Top

Unit capital income
The amount of value-added revenue for each unit of output produced that is attributed to the use of capital.
Unit labor costs
The compensation for labor services used to produce each unit of goods and services.
Unit nonlabor payments
The costs (payments) for each unit of goods and services produced after excluding labor costs and profits from the cost (value) of output.
Unit profits
Corporate profits before taxes with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments. Total unit costs, less labor costs, are profits.

V Back to Top Back to Top

Value of production
The output of an industry or sector at a given level of aggregation that only reflects deliveries outside of that industry or sector. (Also known as sectoral output.)
Value-added output
Compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports, less subsidies, and gross operating surplus. Does not include intermediate inputs.

W Back to Top Back to Top

Wealth stock
The value of existing stocks of capital assets, discounted to reflect the future services expected from them. Used to estimate depreciation, which is used in computing rental prices.

 

Last modified: Augut 24, 2015