EXPLANATORY NOTES


1 This release contains a data cube which provides estimates of multifactor productivity (MFP) for individual industries in the Australian economy. The methodology for constructing the data is outlined in Chapter 19 of the Australian System of National Accounts: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 5216.0). The ABS publishes industry level MFP estimates on an annual basis.

2 The data cube includes measures of input, output and MFP at the industry level from 1989-90 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	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
B	Mining
C	Manufacturing
D	Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
E	Construction
F	Wholesale Trade
G	Retail Trade
H	Accommodation and Food Services
I	Transport, Postal and Warehousing
J	Information, Media and Telecommunications
K	Financial and Insurance Services
L	Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services
M	Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
N	Administrative and Support Services
R	Arts and Recreation Services
S	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 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 significant revisions to growth in hours worked industry indices, labour productivity industry indices and market sector aggregates. These revisions resulted from new population benchmarks from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing (Census) applied to the labour force estimates.

5 This data cube also incorporates the updates to the 2013-14 edition of the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0). It includes revisions to industry chain volume value added, certain types of capital, and income, due to both updated source data and improved compilation methods, for the period between 2010-11 and 2012-13.

6 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),

7 This release contains a supplementary data cube that provides experimental estimates of industry contributions to market sector labour productivity and of mining multifactor productivity which accounts for changes in mineral and energy resources inputs. For further information refer to Feature Article: Experimental productivity growth accounts.


LIST OF TABLES

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

SUPPLEMENTARY DATA CUBE - EXPERIMENTAL TABLES

20	Labour productivity, growth accounting - Market sector
21	Labour productivity, Contribution to market sector growth - By industry, gross output basis
22	Labour productivity, Contribution to market sector growth - By industry, value added basis
23	Labour productivity, Contribution of direct effect to aggregate market sector
24	Mining industry productivity measures including mineral and energy resources

RELIABILITY AND FUTURE REVISIONS

8 Productivity estimates are prepared from a wide range of statistical sources some of which are available quickly and some only with a delay of several years. Most of the basic data are derived from the general system of statistical surveys or as a by-product of government administrative processes. The frequency, detail and timeliness of these data sources are constrained by many factors, including the other statistical purposes, which they must serve. Any increase in timeliness of data is usually at the expense of detail, reliability or additional resources. Therefore, productivity estimates in the recent years are particularly sensitive to revisions as firmer data become available.
9 Revisions arise from the progressive incorporation of more up to date data, re-weighting of chain volume series and from time-to-time the introduction of new economic concepts, data analysis and improved data sources and methods. For example, revisions to productivity estimates in past releases included:

• Revisions to hours worked and labour productivity indices (back to 1991-92) as a result of new population benchmarks from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing applied to the labour force estimates.
• Revisions to the Finance and Insurance Industry productivity estimates (back to 1996-97) due to revised estimates of Financial Industry Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM), Gross Operating Surplus, insurance services charge and income shares, as a result of updated data from the Survey of Major Labour Costs.
• Revisions to industry productivity estimates due to revisions to chain volume Gross Value Added, income and capital, from 2000-01 onwards. The revisions were due to both updated source data as well as improved estimation methods in the Supply and Use tables.

10 Revisions are an inevitable consequence of the compilation process, reflecting both the complexity of economic measurement and the need to provide economic policy advisers and other users with initial estimates that are timely in order to maximise their use in analysis of current economic conditions.


PRIVACY

11 The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to the ABS.


INQUIRIES

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