Business productivity measures how much output businesses produce from labor, capital, or both. The latest U.S. private nonfarm business figures show stronger 2024 growth, while industry and service data reveal wide differences in productivity, unit labor costs, and long-run performance.
Key Business Productivity Statistics
The following figures summarize the most useful business productivity measures across the United States, selected service industries, and OECD economies:
- In 2024, U.S. private nonfarm business labor productivity increased 2.7%.
- In 2024, U.S. private nonfarm business total factor productivity increased 1.3%.
- In 2024, U.S. private nonfarm business real output grew 2.9%.
- From 2019 to 2024, U.S. private nonfarm business labor productivity rose 2.1% per year on average.
- From 2000 to 2007, U.S. private nonfarm business total factor productivity rose 2.8% per year on average.
- In 2024, capital intensity contributed 1.1 percentage points to U.S. private nonfarm business labor-productivity growth.
- From 2019 to 2024, management of companies total factor productivity increased 3.0% per year in the United States.
- From 2019 to 2024, wholesale-trade total factor productivity decreased 1.3% per year in the United States.
- From 2019 to 2024, labor productivity increased in 24 of 31 selected U.S. service industries.
- From 2019 to 2024, cable and other subscription programming productivity grew 8.8% per year in the United States.
- From 2019 to 2024, warehousing and storage productivity fell 7.4% per year in the United States.
- In 2024, unit labor costs rose in 25 of 31 selected U.S. service industries.
- In 2024, radio and television broadcasting unit labor costs increased 16.5% in the United States.
- From 1987 through 2024, the median productivity growth rate was 1.7% per year across 31 selected U.S. service industries.
- In 2023, U.S. private nonfarm business capital input grew 2.7%.
- In 2023, intellectual-property products contributed 1.7 percentage points to capital-input growth in the U.S. private nonfarm business sector.
- In 2023, estimated OECD labour productivity growth averaged about 1.4% excluding Türkiye.
- In 2023, estimated labour productivity growth averaged 1.5% in Europe and 1.8% in Asia among covered OECD countries.
Contents
- Latest U.S. labor and total-factor productivity trends
- Business productivity data across major U.S. industries
- Service-business productivity and unit labor costs
- Business productivity growth since 2019 and over the long run
- Capital, labor composition, and output drivers
- International business productivity statistics and OECD trends
Latest U.S. Labor and Total-Factor Productivity Trends
For the U.S. private nonfarm business sector, BLS labor productivity means real output per hour worked. BLS total factor productivity, or TFP, divides a real-output index by combined labor and capital input indexes, so the measures describe different aspects of performance and should not be treated as interchangeable. BLS, “Total Factor Productivity News Release – 2024 A01 Results”
In 2024, private nonfarm business output grew 2.9%, while combined inputs grew 1.6%. Labor productivity increased 2.7%, and TFP increased 1.3%; the year’s labor-productivity estimate is annual and can be revised.
The 2019–2024 business-cycle comparison was also stronger than the preceding cycle for TFP. Labor productivity rose 2.1% per year on average from 2019 to 2024, while TFP rose 0.9% per year, compared with 0.6% per year from 2007 to 2019 and 2.8% per year from 2000 to 2007.
| U.S. private nonfarm business measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Labor productivity | 2024 | 2.7% annual increase |
| Total factor productivity | 2024 | 1.3% annual increase |
| Labor productivity | 2019–2024 | 2.1% annual average increase |
| Total factor productivity | 2019–2024 | 0.9% annual average increase |
| Total factor productivity | 2007–2019 | 0.6% annual average increase |
| Total factor productivity | 2000–2007 | 2.8% annual average increase |
The 2024 labor-productivity result included a 1.1 percentage-point contribution from capital intensity and a 0.3 percentage-point contribution from labor composition. The latter reflects shifts toward higher-skill labor hours; both are growth-accounting contributions, not separate productivity rates.
Business Productivity Data Across Major U.S. Industries
Industry averages show that business productivity trends were uneven from 2019 to 2024. Management of companies recorded the strongest listed TFP growth at 3.0% per year, followed by professional and technical services at 2.5% and information at 1.8%.
| U.S. industry | TFP, 2019–2024 | Real output, 2019–2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Management of companies | 3.0% per year | 5.0% per year |
| Professional and technical services | 2.5% per year | 5.2% per year |
| Information | 1.8% per year | 6.0% per year |
| Retail trade | 1.4% per year | 3.4% per year |
| Accommodation and food services | 0.6% per year | — |
| Transportation and warehousing | −0.4% per year | — |
| Construction | −0.7% per year | — |
| Wholesale trade | −1.3% per year | 0.6% per year |
| Other services except government | −1.4% per year | — |
| Manufacturing | — | −0.8% per year |
These are annualized industry rates, and output figures are real output rather than productivity rates. BLS Table 3 reports the underlying 2019–2024 TFP, output, and combined-input measures for the industries shown. BLS, “Table 3. Total factor productivity and related data, 2019-24”
The contrast between information output growth of 6.0% per year and TFP growth of 1.8% per year illustrates why output and productivity should be reported separately. Similarly, wholesale trade had modest real-output growth of 0.6% per year while its TFP declined 1.3% per year over the same period.
Service-Business Productivity and Unit Labor Costs
The BLS selected-service release covers 31 U.S. service-providing industries, not every service business. From 2019 to 2024, labor productivity increased in 24 of those 31 industries.
The strongest and weakest selected-service productivity changes were far apart. Cable and other subscription programming grew 8.8% per year, and travel arrangement and reservation services grew 7.5% per year, while warehousing and storage fell 7.4% per year and couriers and messengers fell 5.8% per year.
In 2024, unit labor costs increased in 25 of 31 selected service industries, with seven industries recording growth above 10%. Unit labor cost means labor cost per unit of real output, so it is not the same measure as hourly compensation or labor productivity.
| Selected service measure | Period | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Unit labor-cost increases | 2024 | 25 of 31 industries |
| Unit labor-cost growth above 10% | 2024 | 7 industries |
| Hourly-compensation increases | 2024 | 28 of 31 industries |
| Radio and television broadcasting unit labor costs | 2024 | 16.5% increase |
| Newspaper publishers unit labor costs | 2024 | 16.2% increase |
| Postal service unit labor costs | 2024 | 15.7% increase |
| Travel arrangement and reservation services unit labor costs | 2024 | 7.7% decrease |
The same release reports a median long-run productivity growth rate of 1.7% per year across the 31 selected service industries for the long-run period through 2024. Productivity rose in 26 of the 31 industries; wireless telecommunications carriers grew 10.8% per year, while couriers and messengers declined 2.6% per year. BLS, “Productivity and Costs by Industry: Selected Service-Providing Industries News Release – 2024 A01 Results”
Business Productivity Growth Since 2019 and Over the Long Run
Index levels provide a different view from annual growth rates. In BLS wholesale- and retail-trade series, 1987 is the base year set to 100; an index level is not a percentage and should not be read as one.
| U.S. trade measure | 2004 index, 1987=100 |
|---|---|
| Wholesale-trade labor productivity | 194.8 |
| Retail-trade labor productivity | 177.1 |
| Wholesale-trade output | 205.1 |
| Retail-trade output | 202.1 |
| Wholesale-trade hours worked | 105.3 |
| Retail-trade hours worked | 114.1 |
The 2004 index values show the scale of accumulated change relative to 1987 for output, hours worked, and labor productivity, but they do not replace the more recent annualized 2019–2024 industry rates. BLS, “Indexes by sector”
Capital, Labor Composition, and Output Drivers
Capital and labor inputs help explain the difference between output growth and productivity growth. In 2024, U.S. private nonfarm business capital input grew 2.9%, while hours worked grew 0.2%; these are input measures used in BLS growth accounting.
Detailed capital-input data in the release extend through 2023. Private nonfarm business capital input grew 2.7% in 2023 and 2.6% per year on average from 2019 to 2023, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than the 2007–2019 annual average growth rate.
Intellectual-property products contributed 1.7 percentage points to 2023 capital-input growth. BLS describes that contribution as almost two-thirds of the 2.7% total; this is a reported share and should not be treated as an independently calculated exact percentage. BLS, “Total Factor Productivity News Release – 2024 A01 Results”
Across industries, combined inputs grew 4.1% per year in the U.S. information industry and 2.0% per year in retail trade from 2019 to 2024. These are BLS TFP input aggregates, not output or productivity rates.
International Business Productivity Statistics and OECD Trends
The OECD’s 2024 compendium presents experimental machine-learning estimates of GDP per hour worked for 38 OECD countries. The figures below are estimates with substantial uncertainty, not final national-account observations.
| Covered geography | 2023 estimated labor-productivity growth |
|---|---|
| OECD countries excluding Türkiye | About 1.4% average |
| OECD European countries covered | 1.5% average |
| OECD Asian countries covered | 1.8% average |
| United States | 1.5%, compared with −1.6% in 2022 |
The OECD regional averages describe the covered countries in the modeled sample, while the U.S. comparison is an experimental nowcast rather than the final BLS measure. The OECD analysis also makes clear that its 38-country coverage is a modeled sample, not a business-survey population. OECD, “OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators 2024”
BLS releases can be revised as source surveys and national accounts are revised, and the latest year in the TFP release is preliminary. Comparing business productivity statistics therefore requires keeping the geography, period, measure, index base, annualized-rate convention, and estimate status visible alongside every figure.