Economic Recovery Shatters Records: Third Quarter GDP Hits 33.1% Annualized Increase

The American economy is roaring back to life. The United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rocketed up by 33.1% on an annualized basis in the third quarter (July through September), according to an advanced estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The BEA released the report on Thursday morning. The 33.1% increase is by far the largest quarterly increase in American history, nearly doubling the previous record of 16.7% set in 1950 post-World War II.

Photo Credit: U.S. Bureau of Economy Analysis

The BEA noted that the massive GDP increase was due to “increases in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, exports, nonresidential fixed investment, and residential fixed investment.”

The president touted the announcement in a tweet, writing, “GDP number just announced. Biggest and Best in the History of our Country, and not even close. Next year will be FANTASTIC!!!”

In the second quarter, according to the BEA, America’s GDP decreased by a shocking 31.4%. And Fox Business reports that the U.S. economy still remains 3.5% smaller than it was at the end of 2019.

Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein, told CNBC that the announcement from the BEA was great news, though there is still room to improve.

“It’s obviously good news that the economy bounced back in the third quarter. There’s still a lot of work to do here and the pace of improvement… is going to slow. The stimulus programs that provided much of the economic lift last quarter have expired or are expiring. Fiscal support is diminishing. That is part of the reason that the pace of growth is going to slow from here,” Winograd said.

The increase in GDP comes as some mayors and governors around the country are still imposing lockdowns on their citizens, which hampers economic growth.

According to recently released numbers, unsurprisingly, the states with the best unemployment numbers are those states which did not implement strict lockdown orders.

Nebraska and South Dakota reported a 3.5% and a 4.1% unemployment rate respectively in September.

On the other hand, Nevada reported a 12.1% unemployment rate while California and New York reported unemployment rates of 11% and 9.7% respectively.

Nationally, the unemployment rate sits at 7.9% as of September, declining for five consecutive months after hitting 14.7% in April. Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, the economy was at or near full employment with an unemployment rate at 3.5% in February.

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