Tag Archives: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Led by increases in personal consumption, government spending, and residential investment, the US economy grew 2.0 percent in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday, faster than economists expected and a strong rebound from the 1.3 percent growth rate in the second quarter. While not an absolutely strong performance, the improvement over the second quarter bolsters arguments that current economic policies are working. Growth is below the longer-term 2.5 percent average, though, indicating a still-weak economy.

Consumer spending rose $57.2 billion - 0.5 percent - in August, but personal income improved just $15 billion, 0.1 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.3 percent during the second quarter of the year, falling below market expectations.

Personal income rose $42.3 billion in July but consumer spending increased $46.0 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The increase in income ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô 0.3 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô topped expectations of a 0.3 percent boost, and the 0.04 percent increase in spending also met economist expectations. The Mr. Micawber-like report ("Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery," per Charles Dickens) meant personal savings dropped in July.

The U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at 1.7 percent, slightly faster than the originally estimated 1.5 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday. At the same time BEA reported second quarter grew at a meager 0.5 percent from the first quarter, but an improvement from the 2.7 percent drop in corporate profits registered in the first quarter. Profits in the financial sector though fell more than 9 percent. The upward revision in second quarter GDP growth was in line with the forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The nation added a surprising 163,000 jobs in July but the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent as the number of people working actually declined, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. At the same time, June's paltry job gains originally reported at 80,000 were reduced to 64,000 while May├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós job numbers edged up to 87,000 from 77,000. Average weekly hours remained 34.5 and average hourly earnings rose to $19.77 from $19.75, continuing pressure on household incomes, as the economic recovery sputters along.

Personal income rose $61.8 billion in June but consumers held on to it as personal spending fell 1.3 billion in the month, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The increase in income ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô 0.5 percent ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô topped expectations of a 0.4 percent boost, but the 0.01 percent decline in spending fell short of the 0.1 percent increase economists had expected. Disposable personal income ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô essentially after-tax income ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô rose $52.4 billion in June. Personal savings as a percentage of disposable (after tax) income rose to 4.4 percent in June from 4.0 percent in May.

The U.S. economy grew at a disappointing 1.5 percent in the second quarter, the Labor Department reported Friday, down from an upwardly revised 2.0 percent growth rate in the first quarter but better than expected. Economists had forecast GDP to grow at 1.2 percent in the second quarter. A drop in government spending ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô primarily at the state and local level ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô held growth down. The growth pace is below the 3.0 percent level need to add jobs to make a dent in the nation's unemployment rate. Between 2008 and 2011, real GDP increased at an average annual rate of 0.3 percent, Labor said.

Consumer spending fell $4.7 billion, less than 1 percent in May, reversing the 0.15 percent increase in April, the Labor Department reported Friday. Personal income meanwhile grew $25.4 billion or 0.18 percent, down from April's 0.22 percent growth. The numbers suggest GDP growth for the second quarter which ends Saturday could be slip from the first quarter's weak 1.9 percent growth rate. In dollars, income growth in May was less than the $29.4 billion in April, while spending fell from a gain of $16.2 billion in April.

The US economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday. The BEA report was consistent with market expectations but emphasized a moribund economy. The economy had expanded at a 3.0 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2011. In economic measurement terms, these data are ancient economic history, since the second quarter ends Saturday. The advance first quarter GDP report will be released on July 27. The data released so far for April, May, and early June suggest second-quarter 2012 economic activity may have grown even less rapidly.