NEWS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 A.M. EDT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2009
Lisa Mataloni:
(202) 606-5304
BEA 09-17
Recorded message: (202) 606-5306
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT: FIRST QUARTER 2009 (ADVANCE)
Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009, (that
is, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of
Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP decreased 6.3 percent.
The Bureau emphasized that the first-quarter “advance” estimates are based on source data that
are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page 4). The first-
quarter “preliminary” estimates, based on more comprehensive data, will be released on May 29, 2009.
The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from
exports, private inventory investment, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, and residential
fixed investment that were partly offset by a positive contribution from personal consumption
expenditures (PCE). Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
The slightly smaller decrease in real GDP in the first quarter than in the fourth reflected an upturn
in PCE for durable and nondurable goods and a larger decrease in imports that were mostly offset by
larger decreases in private inventory investment and in nonresidential structures and a downturn in
federal government spending.
Motor vehicle output subtracted 1.36 percentage points from the first-quarter change in real GDP
after subtracting 2.01 percentage points from the fourth-quarter change. Final sales of computers added
0.05 percentage point to the first-quarter change in real GDP after subtracting 0.02 percentage point
from the fourth-quarter change.
NOTE.--Quarte