GDP and the Economy

Second Estimates for the Third Quarter of 2022

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2022, according to the “second” estimates of the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) (chart 1 and table 1).1 In the second quarter, real GDP decreased 0.6 percent. With the second estimate, real GDP growth was revised up 0.3 percentage point from the advance estimate issued last month.

The upturn in real GDP in the third quarter, compared to the second quarter, primarily reflected a smaller decrease in private inventory investment, an acceleration in nonresidential fixed investment, and upturns in federal government as well as state and local government spending that were partly offset by a larger decrease in residential fixed investment and a deceleration in consumer spending. Imports turned down. For more details, including source data, refer to the “Technical Note.”

The 2.9 percent increase in real GDP reflected increases in exports, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and federal government spending that were partly offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased (chart 2 and table 1).2

  • The increase in exports reflected increases in both goods and services. Within exports of goods, the leading contributors to the increase were industrial supplies and materials (notably, nondurable goods), “other” exports of goods, and nonautomotive capital goods. Within exports of services, the increase was led by travel and “other” business services (mainly financial services).
  • Within consumer spending, an increase in services (led by health care and “other” services) was partly offset by a decrease in goods (led by motor vehicles and parts as well as food and beverages).
  • Within nonresidential fixed investment, increases in equipment and intellectual property products were partly offset by a decrease in structures.
  • The increase in state and local government spending was led by increases in compensation of state and local government employees and investment in structures.
  • The increase in federal government spending was led by defense spending.
  • Within residential fixed investment, the leading contributors to the decrease were new single-family construction and brokers' commissions.
  • The decrease in private inventory investment was led by retail trade (mainly clothing and accessory stores as well as “other” retailers).
  • Within imports, a decrease in imports of goods (notably, consumer goods) was partly offset by an increase in imports of services (mainly travel).

BEA's featured measure of inflation in the U.S. economy, the price index for gross domestic purchases (goods and services purchased by U.S. residents), increased 4.7 percent in the third quarter after increasing 8.5 percent in the second quarter (table 2 and chart 3). Price increases were widespread across all major expenditure categories and were led by increases in consumer goods and services.

  • Within goods, the leading contributors to the price increase were food and beverages for off-premises consumption (groceries), “other” nondurable goods (led by recreational items, pharmaceutical and other medical products, personal care products, and household supplies), and motor vehicles and parts (mainly new light trucks). These increases were partly offset by a decrease in the prices paid for gasoline and other energy goods (mainly motor vehicle fuels).
  • Within services, price increases were widespread across most categories. The leading contributor was housing and utilities (mainly the imputed rental of owner-occupied nonfarm housing). Prices for financial services and insurance decreased, primarily reflecting a decrease in prices paid for portfolio management and investment advice services.

Within gross domestic purchases, food prices increased 13.4 percent in the third quarter after increasing 14.7 percent in the second quarter. Prices for energy goods and services decreased 13.1 percent after increasing 53.6 percent. Gross domestic purchases prices excluding food and energy increased 5.0 percent after increasing 6.9 percent.

Consumer prices excluding food and energy, a measure of the “core” rate of inflation, increased 4.6 percent in the third quarter after increasing 4.7 percent in the second quarter.

Measured in current dollars, personal income increased $291.3 billion in the third quarter, compared to an increase of $258.4 billion in the second quarter (table 3). The increase in personal income primarily reflected increases in compensation (led by increases in both private and government wages and salaries) and personal income receipts on assets.

Personal current taxes increased $55.5 billion in the third quarter after increasing $43.0 billion in the second quarter.

Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $235.8 billion, or 5.2 percent, in the third quarter after increasing $215.4 billion, or 4.8 percent, in the second quarter. Personal outlays increased $306.3 billion after increasing $409.2 billion in the second quarter.

The personal saving rate (chart 4)—personal saving as a percentage of DPI—was 2.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with 3.2 percent in the second quarter.

Real DPI (chart 5) increased 0.9 percent in the third quarter after decreasing 2.3 percent in the second quarter.

The increase in third-quarter real GDP was revised up 0.3 percentage point from the advance estimate, primarily reflecting upward revisions to consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and exports that were partly offset by downward revisions to private inventory investment. Imports were revised down (table 4).

  • Within consumer spending, an upward revision to goods was partly offset by a downward revision to services, based primarily on revised U.S. Census Bureau (Census) Monthly Retail Trade Survey (MRTS) data.
    • Within goods, recreational goods and vehicles, food and beverages, clothing and footwear, as well as “other” nondurable goods were leading contributors. Gasoline and other energy goods was also revised up, based on new U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
    • Within services, the leading contributor to the downward revision was housing and utilities (notably, natural gas), based on EIA data. Food services and accommodations (led by food services) was revised up, based on revised MRTS data.
  • Within nonresidential fixed investment, the revised estimates reflected an upward revision to structures that was partly offset by a downward revision to intellectual property products.
    • For structures, the upward revision was led by manufacturing structures, based primarily on new September and revised July and August Census Value of Construction Put in Place (VPIP) data.
    • Within intellectual property products, a downward revision to research and development (R&D), based primarily on new third-quarter R&D expense data from financial statements of publicly traded companies, was partly offset by an upward revision to software, based primarily on new Census Quarterly Services Survey data.
  • The upward revision to state and local government spending primarily reflected an upward revision to structures investment (notably, highway and street construction), based on Census VPIP data.
  • For both exports and imports, the revised estimates primarily reflected updated data from BEA's International Transactions Accounts as well as new and revised Census trade in goods data for September.
    • Within exports, both goods (led by nonpetroleum industrial supplies and materials) and services (led by travel) were revised up.
    • Within imports, both goods (led by computers, peripherals, and parts as well as durable industrial supplies and materials) and services (led by transport) were revised down.
  • The revision to private inventory investment was led by downward revisions to “other” industries (notably, information) and wholesale trade, based primarily on new and updated Census inventory data.

Measured in current dollars, profits from current production (corporate profits with the inventory valuation adjustment and the capital consumption adjustment) decreased $31.6 billion, or 1.1 percent at a quarterly rate, in the third quarter after increasing $131.6 billion in the second quarter (table 5). Profits of domestic financial corporations decreased $32.9 billion, profits of domestic nonfinancial corporations increased $6.1 billion, and rest-of-the-world profits decreased $4.7 billion.


Footnotes

  1. “Real” estimates are in chained (2012) dollars, and price indexes are chain-type measures. Each GDP estimate for a quarter (advance, second, and third) incorporates increasingly comprehensive and improved source data; for more information, see “The Revisions to GDP, GDI, and Their Major Components” in the January 2021 Survey of Current Business. Quarterly estimates are expressed at seasonally adjusted annual rates, which reflect a rate of activity for a quarter as if it were maintained for a year.
  2. In this article, “consumer spending” refers to “personal consumption expenditures,” “inventory investment” refers to “change in private inventories,” and “government spending” refers to “government consumption expenditures and gross investment.”