Information on 2024 Annual Updates to the National, Industry, and State and Local Economic Accounts

The update of the NEAs will cover the first quarter of 2019 through the first quarter of 2024 and will result in revisions to gross domestic product (GDP), GDP by industry, gross domestic income, and related components. The reference year for index numbers and chained-dollar estimates will remain 2017.

Source data updates. The annual update will incorporate source data that are more complete and more detailed than those previously available, including the following:

• U.S. Census Bureau (Census) annual surveys of merchant wholesale trade, retail trade, services, and state and local governments
• Federal government budget data
• Internal Revenue Service tabulations of tax returns for corporations, for sole proprietorships, and for partnerships
• U.S. Department of Agriculture farm income statistics
• National Science Foundation annual surveys

Incorporation of International Transactions Accounts. In addition to the source data listed above, the annual update will incorporate results from the 2024 annual update of BEA's International Transactions Accounts, released on June 20, 2024.¹

Methodology improvements and presentational changes

• BEA will improve the territorial adjustment for trade in services with Puerto Rico. The improved measures will be prepared using exports and imports of services data from BEA's Puerto Rico GDP estimates . Currently, the territorial adjustment for trade in services with Puerto Rico is based on balance-of-payments data from Puerto Rico. This change will improve the accuracy of the estimate and better align the NIPAs with BEA's Puerto Rico GDP estimates.
• BEA will use data from Census' Value of Construction Put in Place Survey to define the amount of aggregate investment in new structures by state and local governments each year. This amount was previously defined using data from Census' Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances (GF). A change was necessary due to a consolidation of data on capital outlays in the GF survey.
• BEA will improve the classification of financial assistance provided by the federal government to extend the solvency of financially troubled multiemployer pension plans, as authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This assistance will be recorded as capital transfers to businesses rather than as financial transactions. Additionally, a new line will be added to NIPA table 7.21, "Transactions of Defined Benefit Pension Plans," and NIPA table 7.22, "Transactions of Private Defined Benefit Pension Plans," to show how these transfers affect the net cash flow of private defined benefit pension plans.

Note: For the 2024 annual update, there are no format changes to the GDP news release tables or the Personal Income and Outlays news release tables. Templates showing changes to Interactive Data Tables, as well as the series and table register "flat" files will be forthcoming.

1. For more information, refer to "Preview of the 2024 Annual Update of the International Economic Accounts," published in the Survey of Current Business on April 24, 2024.