The New Trend in Productivity Growth

Productivity is now growing considerably faster than it did over the 20 years after 1973. What can be said about the sources of this acceleration? Two simple analyzes help to answer this question. The first estimates the contributions to growth in aggregate private nonfarm business productivity from each of the different sources of that growth, such as increases in the amount of capital per worker. The second uses data on output and employment by industry to pinpoint the areas of economic activity where the acceleration has taken place.

Excerpt from Chapter 1, The Making of the New Economy, from the January 2001 Economic Report of the President. For a more complete discussion refer to http://w3.access.gpo.gov/eop/