BEA Releases Revised 1st Quarter and Initial 2nd Quarter GDP

Bureau of Economic Analysis// 
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 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2011,
(that is, from the first quarter to the second quarter), according to the “advance” estimate released by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 0.4 percent.

The Bureau emphasized that the second-quarter advance estimate released today is based on
source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page
3). The “second” estimate for the second quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on
August 26, 2011.

The estimates released today reflect the annual revision of the national income and product
accounts (NIPAs). In addition to the regular revision of estimates for the most recent 3 years and the
first quarter of 2011, current-dollar GDP and some components are revised back to the first quarter of
2003. In cases for which the estimates for the reference year (2005) are revised, this results in revisions
to the levels of the related index numbers and chained-dollar estimates for the entire historical period;
revisions to percent changes before the first quarter of 2003 are small. Annual revisions, which are
usually released in July, incorporate source data that are more complete, more detailed, and otherwise
more reliable than those previously available. This release includes the revised quarterly estimates of
GDP, corporate profits, and personal income and provides an overview of the results of the revision.

The August 2011 Survey of Current Business will contain NIPA tables and an article describing
the revisions. The complete set of revised estimates will be available on BEA’s Web site at
www.bea.gov.