Agriculture and Mining
Extractive industries such as mining will use measures such as production value and production quantity. Agriculture and fisheries will also report production figures but sometimes include shipment data, as crops and other products are transported for processing.Construction
Residential and commercial construction is measured in terms of the number of building permits issued, the number of units built, and the costs associated with the construction. Home and building values are only considered in the real estate industry, which is grouped with Service Industries.Manufacturing
The manufacturing sector is very wide-ranging but almost always involves production numbers as well as shipment information. There may be sales figures for industrial parts to be used in another manufacturing process e.g. engines for automobiles.Wholesale and Retail
As manufactured products pass through the supply chain, wholesalers may or may not be involved. The industry measures here will be focused on shipments and sales.Service Industries
To take just three examples of the diverse nature of the service sector, consider the motion pictures industry, where the relevant data includes the number of theatre screens, the dollar value of ticket sales, the revenues from video sales and rentals, and of course, the costs of film production. Another example would be real estate, where agents and brokers double-count values - of both sales and purchases - of real estate and buildings. Then there are financial institutions, with the emphasis on the value of assets under their management, the value of financing or credit intermediation, as well as revenues generated by their services.Accommodation and Food Services
Overall receipts and retail sales are obvious enough but you will also find numbers for retail outlets e.g. fast food restaurants. With the lodging industry, occupancy ratios and capacity measures are important. The food services sector will also focus on the number of meals or drinks served.Other Measures
For some industries, the value of "consumption" is extrapolated or calculated from surveys rather than from actual sales or shipments. For example, television and radio broadcasting commonly uses the number of viewers or listeners as a measure of their reach in a given media market. Newspaper and magazine publishers will not only consider the number of copies sold but also estimate the number of readers. Ka-Neng Au, 11 Dec 2002