A downturn in the finance and insurance industry group accounted for nearly half of the slowdown in economic growth in 2007, according to preliminary statistics on industry contributions to real gross domestic product (GDP) growth from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, 13 of 20 private industry groups contributed to the slowdown in real GDP growth.
- Finance and insurance industries’ value-added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP—fell 0.3 percent in 2007 after rising 9.8 percent in 2006.
- Construction’s value added declined 12.1 percent in 2007 after falling 6.0 percent in 2006.
- Real estate and rental and leasing value added growth slowed to 2.1 percent in 2007 from 3.4 percent in 2006.
- Mining value added grew less than 0.1 percent in 2007 after growing 6.1 percent in 2006.
These four industry groups accounted for about one quarter of GDP in 2007. However, they accounted for nearly 80 percent of the slowdown in economic growth. GDP growth fell to 2.2 percent in 2007 from 2.9 percent in 2006.
Within the private goods-producing sector, growth in the value-added price index for construction slowed sharply, increasing 1.6 percent in 2007 after an increase of 10.3 percent in the previous year. In contrast, the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry group turned up, growing 26.9 percent in 2007 after contracting 3.5 percent in 2006.