News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, Thursday, November 3, 2016
BEA 16-59

Gross Domestic Product by Industry, 2nd quarter 2016
Transportation and Warehousing Led Growth in the Second Quarter

Transportation and warehousing; health care and social assistance; and professional, scientific, and technical services were the leading contributors to the increase in U.S. economic growth in the second quarter of 2016. According to gross domestic product (GDP) by industry statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 15 of 22 industry groups contributed to the overall 1.4 percent increase in real GDP in the second quarter.

Chart of Real GDP and Real Value Added by Sector
  • For the transportation and warehousing industry group, real value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP—increased 14.0 percent in the second quarter, after decreasing 6.7 percent in the first quarter. The second quarter growth primarily reflected an increase in air and truck transportation.
  • Health care and social assistance increased 4.7 percent, after decreasing 1.6 percent, primarily reflecting increases to both ambulatory health care services and hospitals.
  • Professional, scientific, and technical services increased 3.7 percent, after increasing 3.4 percent. This was the ninth consecutive quarterly increase.
Chart of Real Value Added by Industry

Other highlights

  • Mining decreased 20.4 percent, after decreasing 4.0 percent in the first quarter, primarily reflecting a decrease in oil and gas extraction. This was the largest decrease since the second quarter of 2009.
  • Construction decreased 3.7 percent, after increasing 7.1 percent. This was the first decrease after nine consecutive quarters of growth for the industry.
  • The Information sector decreased 0.2 percent, after increasing 7.6 percent. The decrease was primarily attributed to the motion picture and sound recording industries.

Gross output by industry

Real gross output—principally a measure of an industry’s sales or receipts, which includes sales to final users in the economy (GDP) and sales to other industries (intermediate inputs)—increased in the second quarter. This reflected increases in real gross output for both the private services-producing sector and the government sector. The private goods-producing sector decreased. Overall, real gross output increased in 15 of 22 industry groups.

Chart of Real Value Added by Industry
  • Real gross output for health care and social assistance increased 9.9 percent, after increasing 7.4 percent in the first quarter.
  • Mining decreased 12.6 percent, after decreasing 18.7 percent, primarily reflecting a decrease in support activities for mining.
  • Professional, scientific, and technical services increased 3.6 percent, after increasing 8.8 percent. This was the fifth consecutive quarterly increase, primarily reflecting an increase in computer systems design and related services.

Annual Update of the Industry Economic Accounts

The estimates released today reflect the results of the annual update of the industry economic accounts in conjunction with newly available statistics for GDP by industry for the second quarter of 2016. Additional information on this revision will be available in an article in the December 2016 issue of the Survey of Current Business.

This year’s annual update includes revised estimates beginning with the first quarter of 2013. The update incorporates source data that are more complete and reliable than those previously available. Major improvements introduced with this update include:

  • Results from the 2016 annual update of the national income and product accounts and international transactions accounts.
  • Incorporation of newly available and revised source data (e.g., Census Bureau’s Service Annual Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, and the Department of Treasury’s Statistics of Income).
  • Expansion of quarterly GDP by industry detail. Estimates of real gross output and intermediate inputs are now available.

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Next release – January 19, 2017 at 8:30 A.M. EST for:
Gross Domestic Product by Industry: Third Quarter 2016