“The Bureau of Economic Analysis released today – for the first time – gross domestic product (GDP) by industry for 22 industry sectors on a quarterly basis. These new statistics fill an important gap in U.S. federal economic statistics by providing timely information on how individual industries contributed to U.S. economic growth in a given quarter. These new data also provide businesses with a comprehensive and consistent tool for assessing how their industries are faring compared to other industries. Policymakers, businesses, and academia will be able to use the statistics to quickly identify economic turning points, improving their ability to understand a given sector’s performance. Quarterly GDP by industry statistics supplement other quarterly and monthly indicators of industries’ performance—such as employment, sales and shipments, profits, and prices—by providing a comprehensive and consistent picture of industries’ overall performance, allowing for a more complete analysis of business cycle dynamics and the sources of U.S. economic growth. These new statistics, which also include measures of gross output and of intermediate inputs by industry, are prepared within an integrated framework and are consistent with GDP and the final expenditure components published in BEA’s national income and product accounts. Quarterly GDP by industry statistics will be made available approximately 30 days after the release of the third estimate of GDP.”

• This news release is available on BEA’s Web site at www.bea.gov/newsreleases/rels.htm. The economic statistics are available at www.bea.gov/iTable/index_industry_gdpIndy.cfm