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Thursday, September 30, 2021
Contact: Jeannine Aversa, (301) 278-9003

Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate),
Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate),
and GDP by Industry, Second Quarter 2021
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in the second quarter of
2021, reflecting the continued economic recovery, reopening of establishments, and continued
government response related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase was revised up 0.1 percentage
point from the “second” estimate released in August. In the second quarter, government assistance
payments in the form of loans to businesses and grants to state and local governments increased, while
social benefits to households, such as the direct economic impact payments, declined. In the first
quarter of 2021, real GDP increased 6.3 percent. For more details, including source data, see the
Technical Note and Federal Recovery Programs and BEA Statistics.
GDP highlights
The second-quarter increase in real GDP
reflected increases in consumer spending,
business investment, and exports that were
partly offset by decreases in inventory
investment, housing investment, and federal
government spending. Imports, a subtraction
in the calculation of GDP, increased.
• The increase in consumer spending
reflected increases in services (led by food
services and accommodations) and goods
(led by other nondurable goods, notably
pharmaceutical products, as well as
clothing and footwear).
• The increase in business investment
reflected increases in equipment (led by transportation equipment) and intellectual property
products (led by software as well as research and development).
• The increase in exports reflected an increase in goods (led by non-automotive capital goods) and
services (led by travel).
• The decrease in inventory investment was led by a decrease in retail inventories.
• The decrease in federal government spending primarily reflected a decrease in nondefense spending
on intermediate goods and services. In the second quarter, nondefense services decreased as the
processing and administration of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications by banks on
behalf of the federal government declined.

BEA data—including GDP, personal income, the balance of payments, foreign direct investment, the input-output accounts, and
regional economic data—are available at www.bea.gov. E-mail alerts are also available. The “advance” estimate of GDP for the
third quarter of 2021 will be released on October 28, 2021.

Updates to GDP
The revision to GDP reflected upward revisions to consumer spending, exports, and inventory
investment that were partly offset by an upward revision to imports.
Personal income and saving
Real disposable personal income (DPI)—
personal income adjusted for taxes and
inflation—decreased 30.2 percent in the
second quarter, an upward revision of 0.8
percentage point from the second estimate.
The decrease in current-dollar DPI primarily
reflected a decrease in government social
benefits related to pandemic relief
programs, notably direct economic impact
payments to households established by the
Coronavirus Response and Relief
Supplemental Appropriations Act and the
American Rescue Plan Act. Personal saving as
a percent of DPI was 10.5 percent in the
second quarter, compared with 20.5 percent
in the first quarter.
Corporate profits from current production
Profits increased 10.5 percent at a quarterly
rate in the second quarter after increasing
5.1 percent in the first quarter.
• Profits of domestic nonfinancial
corporations increased 13.8 percent after
increasing 9.1 percent.
• Profits of domestic financial corporations
increased 10.9 percent after increasing
0.3 percent.
• Profits from the rest of the world
decreased 1.3 percent after decreasing
2.2 percent.
Corporate profits increased 45.1 percent in the second quarter from one year ago.

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Gross domestic product by industry
Today’s release includes estimates of GDP by
industry, or value added—a measure of an
industry’s contribution to GDP. Private goodsproducing industries increased 4.7 percent, private
services-producing industries increased 7.8 percent,
and government increased 3.4 percent. Overall, 19
of 22 industry groups contributed to the secondquarter increase in real GDP.
• The increase in private goods-producing
industries primarily reflected increases in
nondurable goods manufacturing (led by
petroleum and coal products), construction, and
durable goods manufacturing (led by other transportation equipment).
• The increase in private services-producing industries primarily reflected increases in accommodation
and food services; information (led by data processing, internet publishing, and other information
services); professional, scientific, and technical services; real estate and rental and leasing; and
healthcare and social assistance (led by ambulatory health care services). These increases were partly
offset by a decrease in retail trade (led by motor vehicle and parts dealers).
• The increase in government primarily reflected an increase in state and local government.

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