Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011
(that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the “second” estimate released by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 1.8 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for
the “advance” estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.8
percent (see “Revisions” on page 3).
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from private
inventory investment, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, nonresidential fixed
investment, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from
federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction
in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected an upturn in private
inventory investment and accelerations in PCE and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset
by a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment, a downturn in federal government spending, an
acceleration in imports, and a larger decrease in state and local government spending.
Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011
(that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the “second” estimate released by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 1.8 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for
the “advance” estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.8
percent (see “Revisions” on page 3).
The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from private
inventory investment, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, nonresidential fixed
investment, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from
federal government spending and state and local government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction
in the calculation of GDP, increased.
The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected an upturn in private
inventory investment and accelerations in PCE and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset
by a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment, a downturn in federal government spending, an
acceleration in imports, and a larger decrease in state and local government spending.