U.S. by the Numbers: Export Growth, Agriculture, State Revenues and GDP

From DOC: The International Trade Administration’s Four Big Numbers for 2011. The International Trade Administration (ITA) is very proud of its efforts to improve the lives of our fellow Americans by moving toward it’s goals of doubling exports by the end of 2014, supporting well-paying jobs tied to exporting, helping U.S. service companies find new markets, and pursuing new venues for U.S. companies to connect with overseas buyers.  Toward their stated ends, they have compiled our Four Big Numbers to highlight their biggest successes.

• 25 – The percentage of growth in exports since the launch of the National Export Initiative in January 2010. Just in 2011, we’ve seen six record-breaking months of exports (Jan, March, April, July, Aug and Sept).
• 9.2 million – The number of jobs supported by U.S. exports in 2010. This represents seven percent of total non-farm employment in the United States. Additionally, exports contribute, on average, an additional 18 percent to workers’ earnings in the U.S. manufacturing sector.
• $148.1 billion – Our U.S. trade surplus in services through October 2011. In dollar terms, through the first ten months of 2011, growth of U.S. services exports are double the growth of our services imports.
• 15,555 – The number of foreign buyers who traveled to the United States to participate in 35 designated International Buyer Program (IBP) trade shows.

From ERS/USDA: Agricultural Outlook Statistical Indicators. The latest numbers on the U.S. AG industry.  These tables include data on individual commodities, the general economy, agricultural trade, farm income and expenses, farm prices, food prices and expenditures, and other statistical indicators of the food and agriculture system.

•  Zip – A Zip file containing all AO tables in Excel spreadsheets
• Pdf – A single Adobe Acrobat PDF file (recommended for printing)

Individual Tables in Excel Format can be found via the general link provided besides the article title.

From U.S. Census: State Government Revenue Up 79 Percent in 2010.  Total state government revenue increased to $2.0 trillion in 2010, up 79.0 percent from $1.1 trillion in 2009, resulting mainly from large increases in social insurance trust revenue, according to the latest findings from the U.S. Census Bureau. After a substantial loss in earnings in 2009, trust systems showed earnings of $450.5 billion in 2010, a gain of 218.2 percent over the year before.  Two major sources make up these trust systems: (1) employee retirement systems and (2) federal and state social insurance trust systems, which include the unemployment compensation system, state government worker’s compensation programs, Social Security, Medicare, veteran’s life insurance and railroad retirement.

From BEA International Economics Accounts: Gross Domestic Product by Industry, 2003 – 2010 (Revised). Recoveries in durable-goods manufacturing, wholesale trade, and professional, scientific and technical services industries were the leading contributors to the turnaround in U.S. economic growth in 2010, according to revised statistics on the breakout of real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, 16 of 22 industry groups contributed to real GDP growth.

Manufacturing value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP— rose 11.2 percent, a sharp return to growth after two consecutive years of decline. Durable-goods manufacturing rose 17.0 percent in 2010 after declining 14.9 percent in 2009.  Six of 22 industry groups contracted in 2010. The largest contributors were real estate and construction, which fell for the sixth consecutive year at 3.2 percent.