May 2021

Volume 101, Number 5

Director’s Message

A message from Mary Bohman, Acting Director of the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

GDP and the Economy: Advance Estimates for the First Quarter of 2021

Real GDP increased 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting positive contributions from consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, and state and local government spending.

Improved Measures of Housing Services for the U.S. Economic Accounts

We provide more accurate and reliable statistics for annual current-dollar estimates of personal consumption expenditures of housing services on tenant- and owner-occupied housing for the period 2002–2020.

Centennial Content

Estimating GDP for the U.S. Territories

An overview of the evolution of estimating GDP for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, including unique challenges and opportunities.

The National Accounts and GDP: Commemorating 75 Years of Continual Innovation

A December 2010 reprint highlighting the account's inception, importance during American crises, and global impact.

Innovation Leads to More Granular Gross Domestic Product Data

A December 2018 reprint discussing BEA's first GDP by county estimates, which filled a gap in BEA's statistics.

John Kendrick: Leader in Productivity Measurement and Economic Accounting

This top influencer profile chronicles the economist’s significant impact on the development and enhancement of BEA statistics.

A New Understanding of Small Businesses: Wages and Gross Output by Industry and Legal Form of Organization Using Firm Receipts to Classify Business Size, 1998–2003

Our break out of statistics by legal form of organization, including corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietors, provides an additional layer of detail to better understand the composition of the nation's small businesses.