New BEA-BLS Estimates of the Sources of U.S. Economic Growth between 1987 and 2016

This article describes new historical statistics for the BEA-BLS integrated industry-level production account. The dataset includes KLEMS and integrated MFP measures that are consistent with the official BEA GDP by Industry statistics and now covers 1987-2016. The most important source of economic growth over the period was the accumulation of capital input. More than three quarters of the contribution of capital was driven by the accumulation of capital inputs in the service sector. The next most important source of economic growth over the period was the accumulation of labour input. Growth in labour input in the services sectors accounted for almost all the economy-wide contribution of labor input. MFP growth accounted for about twenty percent of aggregate economic growth. Of this, the manufacturing sector contributed more than half of this growth, but almost all of this was due to growth in MFP of the computer electronic products industry. Finally, the new dataset shows that the decline in the aggregate income share paid to labour in the manufacturing sector was mostly due to a decrease in the share of income paid to workers without a college degree. In contrast, workers with a college degree accounted for most of the increase in the income share of labour in the service sectors.