--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/the-early-21st-century-u-s-productivity-expansion-is-still-in-services/" title: "The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T06:53:56+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:53:56+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Spring 2007" ipm_keyword: - "growth accounting" - "IT investment" - "labour productivity" - "MFP" - "NAICS" - "post-2000" - "resource reallocation" - "services productivity" - "United States" ipm_research_theme: - "Sectoral and firm-level dynamics" ipm_country_focus: - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/the-early-21st-century-u-s-productivity-expansion-is-still-in-services/ # The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-14-1-Bosworth-Triplett.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Bosworth, Barry, and Jack Triplett. 2007. “The Early 21st Century U.S. Productivity Expansion is Still in Services.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 14 (Spring 2007): 3–19. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-14/the-early-21st-century-u-s-productivity-expansion-is-still-in-services/ ## Authors: - Barry Bosworth Brookings Institution - Jack Triplett Brookings Institution ## IPM Issue 14 Spring 2007 pp. 3–19 ## Related IPM articles [Labour Productivity as a Measure of Technological Change Ulrich Kohli Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 64–81](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/labour-productivity-as-a-measure-of-technological-change/) [IPM Issue 49 Editors’ Overview Andrew Sharpe, Bart van Ark, Paul Schreyer Fall 2025 | IPM Issue 49 | pp. 1–2](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-49/) [De-industrialization and the Great Productivity Slowdown: What Comes Next? 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Bart van Ark, Klaas de Vries, Abdul Erumban Spring 2024 | IPM Issue 46 | pp. 38–59](https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/ipm-issue-46/are-intangibles-running-out-of-steam/) ## Abstract ## Résumé EN FR Copy link Email LinkedIn Labour productivity in the U.S. non-farm business sector grew two and a half per cent per year during the 1995-2005 period, nearly double its growth rate over the previous two decades. Services sector labour productivity (LP) and multifactor productivity (MFP) grew more rapidly and substantially exceeded productivity accelerations in the goods sector. We show that the services sector accounted for three-quarters of U.S. MFP growth after 1995, and within services the contribution of MFP to LP growth exceeded the vaunted contribution of IT investment. We also find that the services sector has become even more important as the primary source of sustained productivity growth after 2000. In this study, we compute LP, MFP and contributions to growth accounts for 57 industries within the goods and services sectors, using the new NAICS-based data set. We also show that resource reallocations, which are a newly important factor in productivity analysis, have changed the relation between increases in industry productivity growth rates and aggregate and sector growth rates in surprising ways. La productivité du travail dans le secteur non agricole des entreprises américaines a augmenté de 2,5 % par année au cours de la période 1995-2005, soit près du double de son taux de croissance au cours des deux décennies précédentes. La productivité du travail (PT) et la productivité multifactorielle (PMF) dans le secteur des services ont progressé plus rapidement et ont largement dépassé les accélérations de productivité dans le secteur des biens. Nous montrons que le secteur des services a représenté les trois quarts de la croissance de la PMF américaine après 1995, et qu’au sein des services, la contribution de la PMF à la croissance de la PT a dépassé la contribution réputée de l’investissement en TI. Nous constatons également que le secteur des services est devenu encore plus important comme principale source de croissance soutenue de la productivité après 2000. Dans cette étude, nous calculons la PT, la PMF et les contributions à la comptabilité de la croissance pour 57 industries au sein des secteurs des biens et des services, en utilisant le nouveau jeu de données fondé sur le SCIAN. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-14-1-Bosworth-Triplett.pdf)