The Headline Number
Revenue per employee is the simplest honest measure of how much output each person in the company supports. Divide the year's revenue by the year's headcount, both taken straight from the annual 10-K filing. One number, no adjustments, comparable across two decades.
Twenty Years, One Line
Every point on this line is that fiscal year's revenue divided by that year's reported headcount, both from the company's own 10-K. Gaps are years where a filing or a figure could not be found. Rising means each person supports more output; falling means headcount grew faster than revenue.
The two ingredients
The same twenty years, split into the two numbers that make the ratio. Revenue reads on the left axis, employees on the right. When the blue line climbs while the grey line holds flat, each person is supporting more revenue.
What Moved It
The line does not move on its own. Acquisitions add thousands of people overnight, divestitures remove them, pricing power lifts revenue without lifting headcount, and outsourcing shifts work off the payroll without shifting it out of the business.