The BEA Wire | BEA's Official Blog

This week, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released two new data products that will help American businesses, consumers, policymakers and academia gain important information about the performance of the U.S. economy.

Guest blog post by Jack Kleinhenz, Ph.D., Chief Economist, National Retail Federation

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released real, price-adjusted estimates of personal income for states and metropolitan areas for 2008-2012. The price-adjustments are based on regional price parities (RPPs) and on BEA’s national Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index.

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released real, price-adjusted estimates of personal income for states and metropolitan areas for 2008-2012. The price-adjustments are based on regional price parities (RPPs) and on BEA’s national Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index.

Want to know how much manufacturing contributed to U.S. economic growth in a given quarter? How about educational services?

The Bureau of Economic Analysis will soon release real personal income statistics using regional price indexes to adjust BEA’s personal income data for differences in the cost of living across states and metro areas.

The U.S. monthly international trade deficit increased in February 2014 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit increased from $39.3 billion in January (revised) to $42.3 billion in February as exports decreased and imports increased.

Personal income increased 0.3 percent in February, the same as in January. Wages and salaries, the largest component of personal income, increased 0.2 percent after increasing 0.3 percent.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage point more than the “second” estimate released in February.

The U.S. net international investment position was -$4,577.5 billion (preliminary) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013 as the value of foreign investments in the United States exceeded the value of U.S. investments abroad.

The U.S. net international investment position was -$4,577.5 billion (preliminary) at the end of 2013 as the value of foreign investments in the United States exceeded the value of U.S. investments abroad. At the end of 2012, the net position was -$3,863.9 billion.

State personal income growth slowed to 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, from 1.0  percent in the third quarter. Growth ranged from 1.2 percent in Texas to -0.6 percent in Iowa.