AI and compute economics
2026-04-25
12 minute read
10 sources
Where AI productivity actually shows up: a sector decomposition
Aggregate US labor productivity grew 2.7 percent in 2024 and 1.9 percent annualized through Q4 2025. The AI signal in those numbers is real but narrow. It lives in five sectors and a dozen occupations, not in the headline.
Two years into broad enterprise AI deployment, the productivity question has moved from speculation to measurement. BLS labor productivity data show nonfarm business output per hour up 2.7 percent in 2024 and roughly 1.9 percent annualized through 2025, above the 2007 to 2019 trend of 1.4 percent. BEA multifactor productivity data lag by ...