Living in Washington, D.C. is a constant reminder of the draw of our nation’s capital for tourists from all over the world. When foreign visitors come to the United States, they spend money on hotels, restaurants, donuts, and other U.S. goods and services. This influx of cash helps our economy, but by how much?
Today ESA released the second in a series of reports on STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation finds that women earn significantly more in STEM than non-STEM professions, and experience a smaller wage disparity -- yet they are woefully underrepresented in STEM college degrees and professions.
This morning the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2011. The economy grew at a 1.3-percent pace in the second quarter following 0.4-percent growth in the first quarter. On the one hand, GDP has grown for eight consecutive quarters. On the other, our economy has been hit with some pretty heavy headwinds, like sharp jumps in energy prices, stress in European financial markets, and supply chain disruptions from the tragedy in Japan.
On Wednesday, July 27th, the U.S. Census Bureau will issue the advance report on durable goods for June. This release is important because it impacts Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in two significant ways: exports of goods and business investment in equipment and software. (The first look at GDP for the second quarter will be released on July 29th by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.)
Today we (the Economics and Statistics Administration here at the Commerce Department) released a report highlighting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers who drive our nation’s innovation and competitiveness by generating new ideas, new companies and new industries. (It’s only a coincidence that we are releasing this report a week before the Comic Con convention).
Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its advance June estimates of retail sales data. Retail sales capture a major portion of overall consumer spending, and thus a major part of GDP, and the June data will complete the snapshot for the second quarter of 2011. While the monthly retail sales figures justifiably receive a great deal of attention, the Census Bureau has other, less prominent statistical data that also enrich our knowledge of the retail sector and the economy as a whole.
Although at first glance the top-line numbers from today’s data release on international trade don’t look all that encouraging, the overall picture (think of a painting) for international trade remains essentially unchanged. The main elements in that overall picture include a large bright spot for exports (representing good) and a large, black, growing pool of oil (representing evil) on the import side. Since the Department of Commerce leads the President’s National Export Initiative, I’d like to talk about exports first. Exports dipped a little in May, but exports have been growing at a strong pa
Any number of special or idiosyncratic factors can confound the understanding of month-to-month changes in our international trade data. Recently, the monthly trade numbers have been buffeted by the tsunami-related events in Japan, changes in oil prices, and the quantity of oil we import. Today, in preparation for tomorrow’s data release for May, we’ll offer some additional information that may help in better understanding how these events and trends might be affecting our trade numbers.
As I have discussed in a previous blog post on May 18th, our country’s reliance on foreign oil has massive direct and indirect costs on American consumers and the U.S.
We have calculated and mentioned in this blog that the average household now has an extra $49.57 in its monthly budget or $247.85 through May as a result of the payroll tax cuts passed last December as part of the acronym-resistant Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010. To arrive at this estimate, we started with data from our colleagues at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, who estimated the reduced Social Security contribu
