Home > News Release: Revised Statistics for the Annual Industry Accounts, 2005-2007
EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EST, MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008
BEA 08-54
Finance and Insurance Industries Led Slowdown in 2007
Revised Statistics of Gross Domestic Product by Industry

A sharp slowdown in finance and insurance, a further contraction in construction, and a deceleration in durable-goods manufacturing were the leading contributors to the economic slowdown in 2007, according to revised statistics of real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

  • Finance and insurance industries’ value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP—slowed to 0.1 percent in 2007 after increasing 6.3 percent in 2006.
  • Construction’s value added continued to decline, dropping 11.2 percent in 2007 after falling 4.1 percent in 2006, reflecting the further decline in residential building.
  • Durable-goods manufacturing value added slowed to 4.8 percent from an 8.1 percent increase. Decelerations were reported in 8 of 11 durable-goods manufacturing industries.
Chart 1. Annual Growth in Real GDP

Prices:

Slower growth in the value added price indexes for construction and utilities industries contributed most to the slowdown in the overall GDP price index in 2007. The value added price index, which measures changes in an industry’s labor and capital input prices including its profit margin, accelerated sharply in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry group.

Chart 2. Annual Growth in Chain-Type Price Indexes for Value Added

Other highlights:

  • Private services-producing industries accounted for most of the 2.0 percent growth in real GDP in 2007. Professional and business services and real estate and rental and leasing were the largest contributors to overall economic growth.
  • Private goods-producing industries subtracted from GDP growth in 2007 for the first time since 2001, reflecting the 11.2 percent drop in construction value added.
  • Information-communication-technology-producing (ICT) industries’ value added remained strong in 2007, increasing 13.0 percent. These industries account for 4 percent of GDP, but accounted for over 20 percent of real GDP growth in 2007.
NOTE:  These revised statistics incorporate more accurate and more detailed data on the industry composition of GDP than were available for preparing the “advance” GDP by industry statistics for 2007 released on April 29, 2008. For more information on the revised statistics, see “Annual Industry Accounts: Revised Statistics for 2005-2007” in the forthcoming December 2008 issue of the Survey of Current Business, and at http://www.bea.gov/industry/index.htm.

BEA’s national, international, regional, and industry statistics; the Survey of Current Business; and BEA news releases are available without charge on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov. By visiting the site, you can also subscribe to receive free e-mail summaries of BEA releases and announcements.

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Advance statistics of gross domestic product (GDP) by industry for 2008 will be released on April 28, 2009 at 8:30 A.M. EDT.

Last updated: Monday, December 15, 2008
Bureau of Economic Analysis is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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