The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently conducted a "second" estimate showing that the nation's real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 0.6% in the second quarter of 2022.
According to a press release by the BEA, this decrease follows a decrease of 1.6% in the first quarter of the year.
“Real GDP decreased less in the second quarter than in the first quarter, decreasing 0.6% after decreasing 1.6%,” according to the press release. “The smaller decrease reflected an upturn in exports and a smaller decrease in federal government spending that were partly offset by a larger decline in private inventory investment, a slowdown in consumer spending, and downturns in nonresidential fixed investment and residential fixed investment. Imports decelerated.”
The new GDP estimate is based on more complete source data than was available for the advanced estimate issues in July which showed a decrease in real GDP of 0.9%.
According to the press release, the decrease in real GDP can be attributed to a variety of factors including "decreases in private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, federal government spending, and state and local government spending." At the same time, imports increased which would have been subtracted from the GDP.
The GDP increased overall, before taking inflation into consideration. Current‑dollar GDP increased 8.4%, or $496.2 billion, in the second quarter to a level of $24.88 trillion, a net positive change of $31.1 billion from the previous estimate.
In the second quarter, current-dollar personal income increased $353.1 billion representing a downwards change of $0.7 billion from the previous estimate.
Other metrics showing growth in the second quarter include the Real gross domestic income (GDI) which increased by 1.4% in the second quarter, which follows an increase of 1.8% in the first quarter. Also increasing were profits from current production which increased $175.2 billion in the second quarter, which actually followed a d decrease of $63.8 billion in the first quarter.