Announcements

BEA Chief Economist Dennis Fixler was selected to receive the 2023 Julius Shiskin Memorial Award for Economic Statistics, which recognizes original and important contributions to statistics used to understand the economy.

Researchers interested in using BEA’s confidential microdata now have new resources for discovering the data and applying for access for their research projects.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis and other federal statistical agencies worked together to create a standard application process for the agencies’ restricted-use data, including BEA’s confidential, company-specific international trade and investment data. 

BEA’s journal of record, the Survey of Current Business, is starting 2023 by publishing articles more quickly, with a new website that makes content easier to find.

Beginning today, the Survey will publish individual articles, visual essays, statistical tables, and other content when they are ready, instead of holding them to publish together as a single online issue each month.

This rolling publication approach and the newly designed Survey website with improved navigation, archives, and more, will better serve readers and data users.

At the end of September, BEA will update five years of U.S. gross domestic product and related statistics, as well as GDP statistics for industries and for each state.

These updates are part of a cycle the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis follows to continue refining its statistics as more information becomes available. The annual updates incorporate data that only become available yearly, such as from the Census Bureau’s annual surveys of manufacturers, merchant wholesale trade, and retail trade.

In June, BEA will speed up and expand our statistics on U.S. international trade in services, including adding detail on some of the most dynamic services, such as research and development, intellectual property, and financial services.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) announced today that Deputy Director Mary Bohman is  the acting Director of the Bureau, overseeing the production of official economic statistics that provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the U.S. economy.
 

BEA will release prototype statistics on Sept. 20 showing the role that outdoor recreation – pursuits like bicycling, RVing, and fishing – plays in each state’s economy. This will mark the first time state data are included in BEA’s outdoor recreation statistics.   

An updated set of national outdoor recreation statistics will be released at the same time. Both the national and state data will cover 2012 through 2017.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is expanding our annual updates that bring the economic picture of previous years into sharper focus. Starting with the July 26 update, we’ll begin revisiting at least five years of national statistics, instead of three, each summer.

In these summer updates, we use newly available data to refine earlier estimates of the nation’s gross domestic product and related statistics. GDP is closely watched as the most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity and trends.

By the end of April, key national economic indicators will be on their original 2019 schedule, as the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ timetable of releases continues to recover from disruptions earlier in the year.

The advance, or first, estimate of gross domestic product for the first quarter will be released April 26 at 8:30 a.m., in accordance with BEA’s original calendar. The second and third estimates of first quarter GDP also are back on their original schedule.

The rest of BEA’s national statistics will catch up when data on personal income and consumer spending are released in late April.