Learning Center

Spending is a traditional way to gauge the economy's health, but don't forget the flip side – income. BEA's personal income statistics tell a lot about how U.S. workers and businesses are faring.

Although BEA doesn't do forecasts itself, our income statistics are valued by people looking for clues to help them anticipate future consumer spending or to predict inflation. Estimates of personal income and corporate profits are closely followed by businesspeople, Wall Street investors, policymakers, and the public.

The value of the final goods and services produced in the United States is the gross domestic product. The percentage that GDP grew (or shrank) from one period to another is an important way for Americans to gauge how their economy is doing. The United States' GDP is also watched around the world as an economic barometer.

GDP is the signature piece of BEA's National Income and Product Accounts, which measure the value and makeup of the nation's output, the types of income generated, and how that income is used.

Whether you're picking up coffee, paying for cellphone service, or buying a car, that's consumer spending. Spending by consumers (or on their behalf, like an insurance company paying part of your hospital bill) is a big force in the nation's economic growth. BEA produces the foremost measure of spending by U.S. consumers, also called personal consumption expenditures, or PCE.

What can you do with consumer spending numbers?

Answer questions like:

BEA continually explores new statistics as part of its mission to provide Americans with a better understanding of the ever-evolving U.S. economy. This research can lead to the development of satellite accounts or other data sets. Some of these special topics include:

Governments at the federal, state, and local levels contribute to the nation's economy when they provide services to the public and when they invest in capital. They also provide social benefits, such as Social Security and Medicare, to households.

Data about governments' receipts, spending, and assets are used to assess the fiscal health of different levels of government, see trends over time, and analyze the effects of government activities on the economy.

Looking for employment data? BEA has employment data designed to fill specific needs, complementing well-known job statistics produced by other federal agencies.

Buildings, trucks, computers, software, even the creation of a song, are examples of fixed assets used to produce goods and services. Assets are considered "fixed" if they could be used for at least a year.

Why are fixed assets data useful?

Information about fixed assets provides important clues about the economy's capacity to produce more goods and services. For example, are businesses spending enough on new fixed assets to replace aging assets?

The prices you pay for goods and services change all the time – moving at different rates and even in different directions. Some prices may drop while others are going up. A price index is a way of looking beyond individual price tags to measure overall inflation (or deflation) for a group of goods and services over time.

Much of what Americans know about the United States’ role in the world economy stems from BEA’s international trade and investment statistics. BEA conducts its own surveys of multinational businesses and international trade in services. Data from the Census Bureau, Customs and Border Protection, the Treasury Department, and other federal agencies are also important for producing BEA’s international statistics.

What can you do with international trade and investment numbers?

Answer questions like: