Key Economic Indicators – July 29, 2019

  • Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.1% in the second quarter of 2019, according to the “advance” estimate by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 3.1%.
  • Real final sales of domestic product (GDP less change in private inventories) increased 5.4% in the second quarter, in contrast to an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter.
  • The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.2% in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 0.8% in the previous quarter.
  • The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased 2.3%, compared with an increase of 0.4% in the previous quarter. Excluding food and energy prices, the PCE price index increased 1.8%, compared with an increase of 1.1%.
  • Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the first quarter of 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Real GDP by state growth in the first quarter ranged from 5.2% in West Virginia to 1.2% in Hawaii.
  • From September 2018 to December 2018, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments were 7.7 million, an increase of 281,000 jobs from the previous quarter, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 6.9 million, a decrease of 506,000 jobs from the previous quarter. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 814,000 jobs in the private sector during the fourth quarter of 2018.
  • Labor productivity rose 1.6% in wholesale trade, 3.2% in retail trade, and 1.6% in food services and drinking places in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unit labor costs, which reflect the total labor costs required to produce a unit of output, rose in wholesale trade and food services and drinking places and were unchanged in retail trade.

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