Toward a BEA-BLS integrated industry-level production account for 1947–2016

This chapter presents new collaborative research work by the BEA and BLS toward an integrated industry-level production account that covers 1947 to 2016, the entire time span of the GDP by Industry accounts. The prototype estimates that we have constructed reveal that for the past decade and a half, relatively slow input growth (in capital and labor services) has curtailed US economic growth, even relative to the long slump between 1973 and 1995. The low contribution of capital input was concentrated in the Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing and Manufacturing sectors, while the low contribution from labor was spread more equally across sectors.