News Release

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2014
BEA 14-33

Gross Domestic Product by Industry, 1st quarter 2014

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014 after increasing 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. Both private services- and goods-producing industries contributed to the decrease, while the government sector increased slightly. Durable-goods manufacturing; wholesale trade; and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting were the leading contributors to the decrease in GDP. Overall, 16 of 22 industry groups contributed to the 2.9 percent decrease in U.S. economic activity.

  • Durable-goods manufacturing real value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP—decreased 8.4 percent after an increase of 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.
  • Wholesale trade decreased 8.7 percent after an increase of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting decreased 31 percent after a decrease of 7.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
Chart of Real GDP and Real Value Added by Sector

The downturn in the first quarter of 2014 was widespread. Overall, 19 out of 22 industry groups contributed to the 5.5 percentage points downturn in real GDP; the leading contributors to the downturn were wholesale trade; professional, scientific, and technical services; and durable-goods manufacturing.

Chart of Real GDP and Contributions to Percent Change in Real GDP

Other highlights:

  • Growth in real value added slowed for nondurable-goods manufacturing in the first quarter, however, the industry group contributed the largest positive offset to the decrease in real GDP in the first quarter. Nondurable-goods manufacturing, which includes petroleum and coal product manufacturing, increased 15.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014, after an increase of 18.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
  • Professional, scientific, and technical services turned down in the first quarter, decreasing 6.5 percent after increasing 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter. Professional, scientific, and technical services includes industries such as legal services, engineering, and administrative management and management consulting services.
  • Federal government turned up 3.2 percent in the first quarter—its first increase since the second quarter of 2011.

Annual Revision of the Industry Economic Accounts

The annual revision of the industry accounts will be released along with the estimate of quarterly GDP by industry for the second quarter of 2014 on November 13. The scope of this annual revision will extend beyond the regular 3 year estimate revision cycle. Selected annual statistics will be revised back to 1997 and quarterly estimates will be revised back to the first quarter of 2005. All revisions will be fully consistent with the results of the annual revision of the national income and product accounts, which is to be released on July 30.

This is the second release of these new quarterly GDP by industry statistics. These statistics are fully integrated and consistent with GDP published in BEA’s national income and product accounts, and they provide a comprehensive and consistent picture of industries’ overall performance, allowing for a more complete analysis on the industry sources of U.S. economic growth. This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm.

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Next release -- November 13, 2014 at 8:30 A.M. EST for:
Gross Domestic Product by Industry: Second Quarter 2014
Annual Revision of the Industry Economic Accounts