Bureau of Economic Analysis

Both outbound and inbound U.S. foreign direct investment continued to grow in 2013. The U.S. direct investment position abroad valued at historical cost increased to $4,660.9 billion from $4,384.7 billion in 2012.  The foreign direct investment position in the United States valued at historical cost increased to $2,764.0 billion from $2,605.8 billion in 2012.

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014 according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2013, real GDP increased 2.6 percent. The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available…

State personal income increased 0.8 percent on average in the first quarter of 2014, an acceleration from the 0.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2013. Personal income grew in 46 states and growth accelerated in 24 of those states. The fastest growth, 1.4 percent, was in Washington state, Vermont, and West Virginia. Personal income fell 2.9 percent in North Dakota, 0.3 percent in South Dakota, and 0.2 percent in Arkansas and Nebraska.

State personal income increased 0.8 percent on average in the first quarter of 2014, an acceleration from the 0.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income grew in 46 states and growth accelerated in 24 of those states. The fastest growth, 1.4 percent, was in Washington state, Vermont, and West Virginia. Personal income fell 2.9 percent in…

As one of the federal government’s premier producers of economic statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis is all about data all of the time. So we were thrilled to take part in the inaugural Open Data Roundtable at the White House Conference Center on June 18 and hear from businesses and other vital customers about how we can make our data easier to find, use and understand.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014, was a big day for big data. The Commerce Department participated in the inaugural Open Data Roundtable at the White House, with GovLab at NYU and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The event brought businesses and non-profit organizations that rely on Commerce data together with Commerce Department officials to discuss how to make the data we collect and release easier to find, understand and…

The U.S. current-account deficit—a net measure of transactions between the United States and the rest of the world in goods, services, primary income (investment income and compensation), and secondary income (current transfers)—increased to $111.2 billion (preliminary) in the first quarter of 2014 from $87.3 billion (revised) in the fourth quarter of 2013. As a percent of current-dollar GDP, the deficit increased to 2.6 percent from 2.0…

You may have noticed some data on international travel services look a little bit different. With the release of the monthly trade report on June 4, spending on health- and education-related travel are now counted in the travel services category. Previously, both were included in a category called “other personal services.”

Developers, do you want to bring more detailed economic data to your next app? The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently added several data sets to the application programming interface (API) we launched last year.

The API now provides direct access to the gross domestic product (GDP) underlying detail tables. Those tables contain a wealth of statistics, including how much consumers spend on hundreds of items like furnishings,…