The BEA Wire | BEA's Official Blog
Highlights of the Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts for Third Quarter 2012
Real spending on travel and tourism slowed in the third quarter of 2012, increasing at an annual rate of 0.6 percent after increasing 2.2 percent in the second quarter. The primary contributor to the slowdown was a downturn in all other transportation-related commodities, which includes motor vehicle fuel, travel arrangement and reservations services, and automotive renting and leasing.
BEA Provides Easier Access to Important Economic Measures
How fast is the economy growing? How much output is produced by labor and capital supplied by the United States? What income is generated by production? BEA produces several different measures for tracking production and economic growth in the United States. Gross domestic product (GDP) is one of the most widely used metrics, but there are several others that also provide important information on the condition of the United…
October 2012 Trade Gap is $42.2 Billion
The U.S. monthly international trade deficit increased in October 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit increased from $40.3 billion (revised) in September to $42.2 billion in October, as exports decreased more than imports. The previously published September deficit was $41.5 billion. The goods deficit increased $1.8 billion from September to $59.2 billion in October, and the services…
Real Consumer Spending Falls in October
Personal income remained flat in October after increasing 0.4 percent in September. Wages and salaries decreased 0.2 percent in October after increasing 0.3 percent in September. The October decrease reflected work interruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy, which reduced wages and salaries by 0.3 percent. For more information, see the personal income news release.
GDP Growth Accelerates in Third Quarter
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.7 percent in the third quarter of 2012 after increasing 1.3 percent in the second quarter, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The third-quarter growth rate was revised up 0.7 percentage point from the advance estimate released in October.
Personal Income Rose in Most Counties in 2011
Personal income rose in 3,062 of the nation’s 3,113 counties in 2011, with growth ranging from 62.2 percent in King County, TX, to –28.8 percent in Lynn County, TX. Of the 50 counties with the fastest personal income growth in 2011, 45 were located in the Plains Region—with 41 of the 45 counties located in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Increases in farm income were a major factor in the growth rates for most of these…
Personal Income Rose in All 366 Metro Areas in 2011
Personal income rose in 2011 in all of the nation’s 366 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for the first time since 2007. Personal income growth ranged from 14.8 percent in Odessa, TX, to 1.0 percent in Rochester, MN. Personal income in the United States rose 5.2 percent in 2011, up from 3.8 percent in 2010. Inflation, as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, accelerated to 2.4 percent in 2011…
Growth in Goods and Services Industries Slowed in 2011
Retail trade and durable goods manufacturing were the leading contributors to the deceleration in U.S. economic growth in 2011, according to revised statistics on the breakout of real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Use Table: An Essential Tool That Looks Deep Inside the U.S. Economy
What’s the foundation for many economic statistics both inside and outside the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)? It’s something most people have never heard of, yet it is essential for finding out what’s going on inside the world’s largest economy. It’s called the “use table,” and it is a fundamental tool of BEA’s input-output accounts. The use table provides both a broad and a detailed look at the U.S. economy. It is simple, yet…
September 2012 Trade Gap is $41.5 Billion
The U.S. monthly international trade deficit decreased in September 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit decreased from $43.8 billion (revised) in August to $41.5 billion in September, as exports increased more than imports. The previously published August deficit was $44.2 billion. The goods deficit decreased $1.4 billion from August to $57.5 billion in September, and the services…
New Guide Helps Regional Developers, Planners Navigate RIMS II
People who conduct or examine local or regional economic impact studies will want to read a new handbook that offers some dos and don’ts on using the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II).
RIMS II, a regional economic model, is most frequently used by investors, regional planners, and government officials to gauge the economy-wide impact of a change in economic activity on a local community…
Real Consumer Spending Picks Up in September
Personal income increased 0.4 percent in September after increasing 0.1 percent in August. Wages and salaries, the largest component of personal income, increased 0.3 percent in September after increasing 0.1 percent in August. Government social benefits to persons turned up in September.
Current-dollar disposable personal income (DPI), after-tax income, increased 0.4 percent in September after increasing 0.1 percent in August.…