Government Productivity Measurement

Federal Government

Current news release

Historical time series available via gopher

• PF - Federal Government Productivity Index

Data available

• Annual indexes of output per employee year, unit labor costs, compensation per employee year, output, and employee years.

Coverage

• Data from over 278 organizations within 61 Federal departments and agencies.
• Output indexes based on approximately 2,500 goods and services produced in the Federal sector; indexes represent 64 percent of the Federal civilian work force.

Source of data

• Direct collection from participating Federal Government agencies.
• Some measures developed from annual reports, budgets and congressional hearings.

Reference period

• Fiscal yearùOctober through September.

Forms of publication

• Annual bulletinùProductivity Measures for Selected Industries and Government Services.
• Data files on diskette.
• Historical data in Handbook of Labor Statistics.
• Summary data packages.

Uses

• Justification of budget requests.
• Shows effects of changes in technology or management initiatives.
• Federal budget forecasting.
• Agency performance mansurement.

State and Local Government

• Productivity measures are developed annually for various State and local government services.

Data available

• Annual indexes of output per employee year, output, and employee years.

Coverage

• Selected coverage for State and local government services.
• Output indexes based on physical output.

Source of data

• Various Federal Government sources and trade associations.

Reference period

• Fiscal yearùOctober through September.

Forms of publication

• Annual bulletinù-Productivity Measures for Selected Industries and Government Measures.
• Articles in Monthly Labor Review analyze indexes for newly covered functions.
• Data files on diskette and tape.

Uses

• Studies of the relationships among productivity, output, and employment by services.
• Assist forecasters in analyzing economic growth in industries and the economy.

Major research in progress

• Survey of opportunities and problems in calculating State and local government productivity indexes.
• Development of productivity measures for selected government services.

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