This paper describes forthcoming experimental historical statistics for the integrated industry-level production account covering the period 1986-1996 that will be released to the public in June 2018. Release of this new dataset will add more than a decade of historical data to this time series and enhance the usefulness of the production account by allowing analysis of economic trends over a longer period. These statistics are being prepared as part of an ongoing collaboration between the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

These new historical data provide a view of the sources of economic growth over roughly three decades of economic history. The data reveal that about half of economic growth over this period was due to the accumulation of capital inputs. About thirty percent was due to growth in labor input, while the remainder (about 20%) was due to growth in multifactor productivity (MFP). The industry dataset shows that the aggregate growth in capital input was driven by capital services growth employed in the trade; information; and finance, insurance, and real estate sectors. The preponderance of the contribution of labor input was due to an increase of labor services in the services industries, while the large majority of aggregate MFP growth was accounted for by MFP growth in the computer and electronic manufacturing and trade sectors.