US GDP growth accelerated from a crawl to a walk in the first quarter of 2013, according to the
advance estimate
issued today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The reported annual
growth rate of 2.5 percent was just a bit faster than the average rate
during the recovery, and much stronger than the 0.4 percent reported for
Q4 2012. Compared with yesterday’s news that the British economy had
barely escaped a triple-dip recession and that unemployment hit a record
high in Spain, the latest numbers position the United States as one of
the healthiest of the advanced economies. Behind the headline growth
rate, however, some of the details were less encouraging.
Personal consumption expenditure was
the most important component of the acceleration. Consumption
contributed 2.24 percentage points to the Q1 growth rate, compared to
just 1.28 percentage points in Q4. Nearly all of that came from the
service sector. Housing services and utilities, recreation, and
financial services all showed strong gains. Growth in consumption of
goods slowed slightly. >>>
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Follow this link to view or download a classroom-ready slideshow with charts and commentary on the latest GDP data
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