A blog post from BEA Director Vipin Arora
Every month, Americans eagerly anticipate BEA’s GDP and personal income and outlays estimates. These statistics are essential for understanding, for instance, how fast our economy is growing, or how rapidly the incomes of people across the country are rising.
They are also published quickly after the reference month or quarter ends. In fact, statistics in BEA’s Gross Domestic Product and Personal Income and Outlays reports are among the world’s timeliest indicators of economic activity.
The good news for our data users is that our suite of personal income and outlays statistics will soon get even timelier. (These monthly statistics provide information on how much people earn, spend, and save, as well as price information.)
Beginning Feb. 20, we’ll accelerate the release of our Personal Income and Outlays report to the same day and the same time as GDP. It’s a long-sought after improvement—these complementary economic indicators have been released at separate times since 1970.
This is a fresh example of how BEA listens to the needs of customers, providing them with the most timely economic data possible to make smart decisions in a quick-moving environment.