Productivity in selected service-providing and mining industries, 2010

June 05, 2012

Among the 20 largest (by employment) service-providing and mining industries, several recorded large increases in output per hour, including local and long-distance freight trucking and support activities for mining.

[Chart data]

From 2009 to 2010, output per hour increased in 32 of the 47 detailed service-providing industries studied. In most of these industries, productivity rose as output growth was accompanied by declines or more modest increases in labor hours. Several industries posted double-digit productivity gains as a result: local as well as long-distance general freight trucking; refrigerated warehousing and storage; radio and television broadcasting; wireless telecommunications carriers; and travel agencies.

Output per hour rose in four of the five detailed mining industries studied; only coal mining posted a productivity decline. Productivity was particularly strong in the support activities for mining industry, where strong growth in output exceeded a large increase in labor hours.

These data are from the Productivity and Costs program. To learn more, see "Productivity and Costs by Industry: Selected Service-Providing and Mining Industries, 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1069.