Technical Note

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Technical Note
Gross Domestic Product
Fourth Quarter of 2005 (Preliminary)
February 28, 2006

This technical note provides background information about the source data and
estimating methods used to produce the estimates presented in the GDP news release.
The complete set of estimates for the fourth quarter is available on BEA's Web site at
www.bea.gov; a brief summary of "highlights" is also posted on the Web site. In a few
weeks, the estimates will be published in BEA's monthly journal, the Survey of Current
Business, along with a more detailed analysis of the estimates.

Sources of Revision to Real GDP

Real GDP growth in the fourth quarter was revised from 1.1 percent to 1.6 percent.

. Exports of goods and services were revised up, reflecting newly available
Census Bureau goods data for December.
. Federal government spending was revised up, reflecting newly available defense
agency financial data and a corrected seasonal adjustment.
. Investment in equipment and software was revised up, reflecting newly available
motor vehicle registration data for December.
. Inventory investment was revised up, reflecting newly available Census inventory
data for December and revised data for November.

These revisions were partly offset by an upward revision to imports, reflecting the newly
available Census goods data for December.

Revisions to Wages and Salaries and Related Series

In addition to presenting preliminary estimates for the fourth quarter, today's news
release also presents revised third-quarter estimates of wages and salaries, personal
taxes, and contributions for government social insurance that are based on preliminary
data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly census of employment and wages.

Wage and salary disbursements are now estimated to have increased $90.0 billion in the
third quarter, an upward revision of $20.7 billion. Real disposable personal income is
now estimated to have decreased 1.4 percent in the third quarter and to have increased
7.1 percent in the fourth. (By comparison, the estimates that were available last month
showed a decrease of 2.0 percent in the third quarter and an increase of 7.0 percent in
the fourth.)

Brent R. Moulton
Associate Director for National Economic Accounts
Bureau of Economic Analysis
(202) 606-9606

Table A.--SOURCE DATA FOR THE ADVANCE AND PRELIMINARY
ESTIMATES OF GDP FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2005

This table shows the actual data used for the preliminary estimate of GDP for the fourth quarter of
2005. For these key series, actual data for December were not available in time for inclusion in the
advance GDP estimate released on January 27, 2006, and BEA made assumptions for these source
data. The numbers in brackets show the December values that had been assumed for the advance
estimate. For most series, the data incorporated for November and, in some cases, for October,
were preliminary, and the numbers shown in brackets are the values used last month.

All series shown in the table are in billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, and are
published by the Bureau of the Census.

2005
Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Private fixed investment:
Nonresidential structures:
1 Value of new nonresidential
construction put in place..... 242.9 248.9 250.5 249.5 252.2 255.4
{249.0} {250.5} {249.7}
Equipment and software:
2 Manufacturers' shipments of
complete aircraft.............. 29.6 40.2 14.3 27.8 26.5 26.3
{26.6} {27.2}
Residential structures:
Value of new residential
construction put in place:
3 Single family.................. 421.7 425.6 435.0 439.8 445.7 446.8
{440.1} {446.5} {448.8}

4 Multifamily.................... 46.3 47.2 48.1 49.1 48.9 49.4
{48.8} {48.5} {48.4}
Change in private inventories:
5 Change in inventories for nondurable 5.0 -3.6 2.2 17.0 -7.6 23.5
manufacturing................... {-8.0} {10.7}

5a Change in inventories for merchant
wholesale and retail industries other
than motor vehicles and equipment... 3.0 47.1 25.5 -1.9 35.5 59.0
{27.3} {45.7}
Net exports:
Exports of goods:
6 U.S. exports of goods,
international-transactions-
accounts basis.................. 899.0 918.7 879.7 900.7 925.7 948.2
{928.3} {920.9}
6a Excluding gold..................... 894.1 913.4 873.9 894.6 919.9 942.6
{922.5} {915.0}
Imports of goods:
7 U.S. imports of goods,
international-transactions-
accounts basis................ 1646.9 1684.8 1733.0 1776.0 1757.9 1795.3
{1754.9}{1767.2}
7a Excluding gold.................. 1643.2 1680.7 1727.5 1770.8 1752.6 1789.5
{1749.5}{1761.9}

8 Net exports of goods................ -747.9 -766.1 -853.3 -875.3 -832.2 -847.1
{-826.5}{-846.2}
8a Excluding gold.................. -749.1 -767.3 -853.7 -876.2 -832.7 -846.9
{-827.0}{-846.9}
Government:
State and local:
Structures:
9 Value of new construction put
in place..................... 229.7 231.0 231.8 232.7 236.2 236.8
{234.5} {236.2} {235.3}