5260.0.55.002 - Estimates of Industry Multifactor Productivity, 2011-12  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/12/2012   
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INTRODUCTION


1. This data cube provides experimental estimates of multifactor productivity (MFP) for individual industries in the Australian economy. The methodology for constructing the data is outlined in the ABS Information Paper: Experimental Estimates of Industry Multifactor Productivity, 2007 (cat. no. 5260.0.55.001). The ABS publishes industry level MFP estimates on an annual basis.

2. This data cube includes measures of input, output and MFP at the industry level from 1985–86 onwards for 12 industries, with the remaining market sector industries commencing in 1994–95. It goes beneath the aggregate economy to measure the productivity of individual industries. The 16 industries included in the data cube are as follows:

ANZSIC
Division
Industry
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
R
S
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
Mining
Manufacturing
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
Construction
Wholesale Trade
Retail Trade
Accommodation and Food Services
Transport, Postal and Warehousing
Information, Media and Telecommunications
Financial and Insurance Services
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
Administrative and Support Services
Arts and Recreation Services
Other Services

3. To assist data users to link these industry level estimates to aggregate measures in the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0), this data cube also includes aggregate MFP measures for the market sector definition (see above, ANZSIC06 Divisions A to N and Divisions R and S) dating back to 1994–95. Also included is a 12 selected industry grouping (Divisions A to K and R), which is useful for analysing productivity performance from the perspective of a longer time series.


CHANGES IN THIS DATA CUBE

4. This data cube incorporates improvements in the estimation of labour composition. For the first time, compositional data with an industry dimension has been used. Thus the data cube incorporates industry estimates of value added MFP, gross output MFP, combined inputs, and labour inputs on a quality adjusted hours worked basis. Furthermore, the estimates of labour composition for the aggregates have been improved. Previously, an estimate based on data for the whole economy (which included data on non–market sector workers) was used for both aggregates. By using compositional data with an industry dimension, the new estimates are based only on data for workers in the relevant industries. Accordingly, there are revisions to aggregate MFP growth on a quality adjusted hours worked basis. All labour composition estimates are based on census data from the censuses between 1981 and 2011 (inclusive). Labour composition for non–census years is interpolated (for inter–census years) or extrapolated (for post–census years).

5. This data cube also incorporates the updates to the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0). Growth in industry chain volume value added has been revised since 2008–09, due to both updated source data and improved compilation methods. These revisions have resulted in less volatile movements for the MFP aggregates in recent years. Aggregate MFP growth has been positive in two of the last three years.

6. The industry capital services indices reflect revisions to the composition of machinery and equipment GFCF back to 2008–09. The new composition reflects updated information from Australian Industry (cat. no. 8155.0) and the Private New Capital Expenditure Survey (cat. no. 5626.0). These revisions are mostly offsetting so revisions to the aggregate capital services indices are small.

7. The growth rates presented in the growth accounts are now expressed as natural logarithms x 100. This presentation is consistent with the way MFP is estimated (using the Translog production function) allowing the growth accounts to be additive. Previously, the growth accounts had been expressed as percentage changes (ie exponentiated logs) which are not strictly additive.

8. For a more detailed discussion about updates to the Australian System of National Accounts data, please refer to the Analysis of results section of the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0),


LIST OF TABLES

1Gross value added based multifactor productivity indexes
2Productivity measures – Market sector industries aggregate
3Productivity growth cycles – Market sector industries aggregate
4Productivity measures – Selected industries aggregate
5Productivity growth cycles – Selected industries aggregate
6Labour productivity indexes
7Capital productivity indexes
8Gross value added chain volume indexes
9Labour input indexes
10Capital services indexes
11Combined inputs capital and labour indexes
12Productive capital stock chain volume measures – Incorporated and unincorporated
13Capital rental price – Incorporated and unincorporated
14Income shares for value added based estimates of MFP
15Gross output based MFP indexes
16Gross output indexes
17Combined inputs (labour, capital and intermediate inputs) indexes
18Intermediate inputs indexes
19Cost shares for gross output based estimates of MFP

More information available from the ABS website.


INQUIRIES

9. For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Derek Burnell on Canberra (02) 6252 6427.