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U.S. BEA publishes updates on the U.S. space economy’s contributions to the U.S. economy

U.S. BEA publishes updates on the U.S. space economy’s contributions to the U.S. economy [Jul/2024]

Since 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce) is developing statistics measuring the contributions of space-related industries to the overall U.S. economy. Based on a U.S space economy satellite account (SESA), these estimates, provided to business leaders, policymakers, and the public are the only space economy related statistics directly comparable to U.S. national accounts (GDP, also produced by BEA).

The latest set of statistics on the U.S. space economy, covering the years 2017 to 2022, was released by BEA on June 25, 2024. BEA's statistics define the space economy as encompassing goods and services that are either utilised in space, provide direct support to those used in space, require direct inputs from space to operate, or support activities that depend on such inputs. Additionally, it includes activities associated with the study of space.

The new statistics provide comprehensive estimates of the U.S. space economy’s contributions to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), gross output, private employment, and private compensation by industry. In 2022, the space economy contributed $131.8 billion to the U.S. GDP, representing 0.5% of the total GDP. In addition, it experienced a real GDP growth of 2.3% in 2022, outpacing the overall U.S. economic growth rate of 1.9%. This growth rate is driven by growth in the government industry (7.2%), particularly national defence, while private industries experienced 0.9% of growth. Furthermore, the space economy generated $232.1 billion in gross output and $54.5 billion in private-sector compensation, supporting 347,000 private-sector jobs.

In this release, BEA's statistics have also been expanded to include detailed data from 75 industries, up from just over 30 industries previously. This enhanced detail provides a clearer picture of the space economy's industrial composition and its evolution over time.

For more information on the U.S. space economy statistics, access the full report, or visit BEA's website.

For more information on the cooperation project between ESA, Eurostat and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) on the development of comparable European space economy statistics, please see the article on Eurostat/JRC Partnership.


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