Gross Domestic Product, 3rd quarter 2015 (advance estimate)

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis source. Statistical tables, charts, standard technical appendices and administrative material are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's original vintage and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete release and current data.

Real gross domestic product -- the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.9 percent.

The Bureau emphasized that the third-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 2 and "Comparisons of Revisions to GDP" on page 4). The "second" estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on November 24, 2015.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), state and local government spending, nonresidential fixed investment, exports, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

Real GDP increased 1.5 percent in the third quarter, after increasing 3.9 percent in the second. The deceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and decelerations in exports, in nonresidential fixed investment, in PCE, in state and local government spending, and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a deceleration in imports.

Real gross domestic purchases -- purchases by U.S. residents of goods and services wherever produced -- increased 1.5 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 3.6 percent in the second.

Current-dollar GDP -- the market value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production -- increased 2.7 percent, or $121.1 billion, in the third quarter to a level of $18,034.8 billion. In the second quarter, current-dollar GDP increased 6.1 percent, or $264.4 billion. Disposition of personal income

Current-dollar personal income increased $171.6 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $139.5 billion in the second. The acceleration in personal income primarily reflected an acceleration in wages and salaries and an upturn in farm proprietors’ income that were partly offset by a deceleration in personal interest income.

Personal current taxes increased $15.8 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $27.3 billion in the second.

Disposable personal income increased $155.9 billion, or 4.8 percent, in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $112.2 billion, or 3.4 percent, in the second. Real disposable personal income increased 3.5 percent, compared with an increase of 1.2 percent.

Personal outlays increased $136.6 billion in the third quarter, compared with an increase of $182.3 billion in the second.

Personal saving -- disposable personal income less personal outlays -- was $636.7 billion in the third quarter, compared with $617.5 billion in the second.

The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 4.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 4.6 percent in the second. For a comparison of personal saving in BEA's national income and product accounts with personal saving in the Federal Reserve Board's financial accounts of the United States and data on changes in net worth, go to www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp.

Information on the assumptions used for unavailable source data is provided in a technical note that is posted with the news release on BEA's Web site. Within a few days after the release, a detailed "Key Source Data and Assumptions" file is posted on the Web site. In the middle of each month, an analysis of the current quarterly estimate of GDP and related series is made available on the Web site; click on Survey of Current Business, "GDP and the Economy." For information on revisions, see "Revisions to GDP, GDI, and Their Major Components."