Integrated historical input-output and GDP by industry accounts, 1947-1996

This month, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released revised, fully integrated, historical statistics from the industry economic accounts (IEA), spanning 1947-1996. The release brings to completion BEA's long-term goal of developing a fully integrated and consistent time series of IEA and national income and product account statistics. The revised statistics include data on real and nominal value added, intermediate inputs, and gross output for 46 industries for 1947-1962 and 65 industries for 1963-1996. In addition, the revised historical data extend the integrated time series of input-output accounts back to 1947. Based on average shares by decade, services-producing industries show a steady increase in the share of current-dollar GDP throughout the historical time period, while goods-producing industries show a steady decline. Government's share of GDP increased from the 1940s through the 1970s, fell in the 1980s, and remained steady into the 1990s. The largest increase in the services-producing sector's share of current-dollar GDP occurred in the 1980s, when its share increased 5.2 percentage points, from 53.2% to 58.3%.