United States economy

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United States
United StatesUnited States
World economic rank 1. (nominal) (2016)
currency U.S. dollar
Trade
organizations 		WTO , APEC , OECD
Key figures
Gross domestic
product (GDP) 		$ 19,360 trillion (2017)
GDP per capita 59,500 (2017)
GDP by economic sector Agriculture : 0.9%
Industry : 18.9%
Services : 80.2% (2017)
growth 2.2% (2017)
inflation rate 2.1% (2017)
Gini index 45 (2007)
Employed 160.4 million (2017)
Unemployment rate 3.8% (5/2018)
Foreign trade
export $ 1.547 trillion (2017)
Export goods Electronics, Automobiles, Chemicals, Medical Goods, Soy, and Wheat
Export partner Canada (18.3%)
Mexico (15.7%)
China (8.4%)
import $ 2.343 trillion (2017)
Import goods Electronics, machines, automobiles, petroleum
Import partner China (21.6%)
Mexico (13.4%)
Canada (12.8%)
Foreign trade balance −796 billion $ (2017)
public finances
Public debt $ 18.043 trillion (4/2014)
Government revenue 3.336 trillion (2017)
Government spending 3.991 trillion (2017)
Budget balance $ 655 billion (2017)
This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The United States economy is the largest economy with a GDP of $ 18.569 trillion. Most of the domestic production is generated by private companies ; the government has a comparatively small influence on economic activity (see here for the government quota ).

According to the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index, the United States ranks second (out of 137 states) among the most competitive countries in the world.

history

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
The entire economic history of the USA prior to World War I (colonial times, 18th and 19th centuries) is missing. Due to its close connection with slavery, the plantation economy of the southern states in the 18th and 19th centuries should be shown.
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

Development of GDP per capita (logarithmic representation)

President Warren G. Harding's "return to normality" ( English Return to Normalcy ) after the First World War witnessed the United States a decade of great prosperity. Stock prices and indices rose for a long time and the economy was seen as inviolable. This belief ended in the course of the Great Depression . The in November 1932 elected as President Franklin D. Roosevelt led between 1933 and 1939 through a series of economic and social reform known as New Deal were known. The New Deal created a new economic order and, for the first time, a social safety net . When the United States entered World War II in December 1941 , government spending and deficit spending increased to unprecedented levels, with the ultimate end of mass unemployment . After World War II, the United States experienced relatively stable economic growth. In the late 1960s, the Vietnam War fueled the economy; but it also drove up new indebtedness in the USA.

Stagflation occurred for the first time after the first oil crisis in 1973 .

In August 1971, US President Richard Nixon announced that the United States, whose currency (the US dollar ) was the anchor currency in the Bretton Woods system , would abolish its obligation to exchange dollars for gold ("dollar convertibility into gold") would no longer meet immediately. Nixon had made this far-reaching decision without any consultation with other nations (“ Nixon shock ”). The Bretton Woods system collapsed 19 months later (details here ).

There was little significant growth in the US economy during the 1970s. The Keynesian approach, which had dominated until then, lost many followers from the early 1980s. Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election with the slogan "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem". Reagan supported the supply-side approach ; From 1981 he lowered taxes and reduced government regulations and the government quota . In fiscal policy , the tax cuts resulted in significant deficit spending, independent of the economic cycle (the highest borrowing that the United States had seen in peacetime). In 1982 the gross domestic product grew by two percent; it grew 31% over Reagan's eight-year tenure. During President Bill Clinton's tenure, GDP grew another 38%. At the end of his tenure, aggregate output was $ 9.8 trillion, with the lowest unemployment rate in thirty years. When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, a comparatively mild recession began , but the economy as a whole quickly returned to its old growth rates following fiscal and monetary policy measures by the state and the US Federal Reserve. National debt grew dramatically under George W. Bush. His war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks (including the Iraq war ) was extremely expensive.

In 2007 the USA was the starting point for the financial crisis from 2007 . To mitigate this crisis, the US economic stimulus program 2008 ("Economic Stimulus Act of 2008") was passed into law in February 2008 . On October 3, 2008, the so-called Paulson Plan ( Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ) was passed with a financial volume of 700 billion US dollars.

From 2010 to 2017, the American economy grew every year, making the country the third-longest expansion phase in its history. At the same time, the national debt grew to the highest level since the Second World War (approx. 105% of GDP in 2016).

Growth rate of the US economy 1947–2017

Basics

United States population pyramid

One of the most important foundations of a country's economy is its natural resources. The United States is rich in mineral resources and fertile soils , and also has a temperate climate. However, this alone cannot explain the development of the United States into one of the most important economies in the world. Above all, the role of the state must be considered here. In the nineteenth century, the exploitation of the resources was supported by favorable US government legislation. This and a sufficiently large pool of homogeneous consumers meant that the USA was able to take the lead in the world economy thanks to its diversity of resources.

Another important basis is the labor potential that produces goods from natural resources. The number of available workers and - more importantly - their productivity are defining factors in the state of an economy. High birth rates ( baby boomers ) and also a high influx of migrants ensured a high labor supply in the USA.

Another factor is the length of the navigable waterways. The United States has 41,000 km of navigable waterways, the fifth largest in the world, only surpassed by Brazil , China , Russia and Vietnam .

Private companies produce most of the goods and services. Almost two thirds of the country's total production is used for private consumption. The remaining third is bought by the state and companies. Indeed, the role of the consumer is so great that the country is sometimes referred to as the “consumer economy”.

Medium-sized and large corporations

The American economy has a wide range of companies, from one-man businesses to the world's largest corporations. 99 percent of all self-employed companies in the country employ fewer than 500 people. According to the US Small Business Administration (SBA), these small businesses employ 52 percent of all American workers. 39 percent of the high-tech employees work in medium-sized companies.

The top-selling US companies in 2016, in billion US dollars:

rank Surname Headquarters sales

($ Billion)

Branch
1 Walmart Bentonville 483.873 retail trade
2 Berkshire Hathaway Omaha 223,604 Conglomerate
3 Apple Cupertino 215.639 technology
4th ExxonMobil Irving 205.004 oil and gas
5 McKesson San Francisco 198.533 Pharmaceutical trade
6th UnitedHealth Minnetonka 184.840 Insurance
7th CVS Health Woonsocket 177.526 Pharmaceutical trade
8th General Motors Detroit 166.380 Automobiles
9 AT&T Dallas 163.786 telecommunications
10 Ford engine Dearborn 151,800 Automobiles

The top-selling US companies in 2016, in billion US dollars:

rank Surname Headquarters Profit

($ Billion)

Branch
1 Apple Cupertino 45.687 technology
2 JPMorgan Chase New York City 24.733 Banks
3 Berkshire Hathaway Omaha 24,074 Conglomerate
4th Wells Fargo San Francisco 21,938 Banks
5 Alphabet Inc. Mountain View 19,478 technology
6th Bank of America Charlotte 17,906 Banks
7th Microsoft Redmond 16,798 software
8th Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick 16,540 Pharmaceutical trade
9 Citigroup New York City 14.912 Banks
10 Altria Group Richmond 14.231 Consumer goods

Agriculture

Agricultural land in the USA

In the US, the arable land is only about 44% of the country. At 4,058,625 square kilometers (as of 2016), however, they are larger than the total cultivation area in the European Union. The best arable areas are in the Great Plains . There, the work can be done quickly with the help of machines and a balanced climate and fertile soils enable large-scale cultivation. About 70 percent of the businesses are family businesses with annual sales of $ 100,000 to $ 500,000. Some of them are heavily in debt. The large companies, some of which generate annual sales of over five million US dollars, include around 30 percent of all companies.

Agriculture traditionally occupied an important place in American economy and culture. When the nation was still in its infancy, farmers were considered the exemplary embodiment of such virtues as hard work, initiative, and independence. American farmers owe their ability to produce large yields to various factors. The American Midwest has one of the world's best floors. In many areas, rainfall ranges from modest to plentiful. In the areas of the country where it does not rain as much, rivers and groundwater allow intensive irrigation . High capital investments and the increasing use of well-trained labor also contribute to the success of American agriculture. The agricultural development - like the rest of the economy - was heavily divided into so-called belts , which is why there was a high degree of specialization .

From the 1870s onwards, deflation caused major problems, particularly for smallholders. Despite the large population growth, the money supply did not increase due to the gold standard ( de facto applicable, not yet de jure). This shortage of money was able to use bankers for high interest rates and the railway companies their oligopoly position for high transport charges. As a result, the farmers could not afford the loans they needed to modernize agriculture (new equipment through the industrial revolution). At the same time, the farmers distanced themselves from the government, which, contrary to the farmers' proposals, stuck to the previous monetary policy and did not dissolve oligopolies / monopolies. This led to an extensive organization of the farmers in the Farmers' Alliance, founded in 1876, with around 400,000 members nationwide in 1889, whereby after the initial racist disputes, the bad situation of black farm workers was increasingly discussed. The Farmers' Alliance gave the farmers a stronger position vis-à-vis suppliers and banks. Politically, the organization resulted in the establishment of the Populist Party . The Democratic Party responded to some of the farmers' demands at the end of the 19th century, but this also weakened the farmers' organization due to the resulting split within the farmers' movement.

The situation in American agriculture improved significantly in the first two decades of the 20th century. The prices of agricultural products rose as the demand for goods increased and the value of the land increased. Technical advances increased productivity. The successful years at the beginning of the 20th century ended with falling prices in connection with the First World War . At the end of the Second World War , agriculture was confronted with the problem of overproduction . Technological innovations such as the introduction of gasoline and electricity-powered machines, as well as the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, brought higher yields per hectare than ever before. Today there are a variety of agricultural companies making intensive efforts to use technological capabilities to meet increasingly articulating consumer demands in a globalized food system. The role of the government will continue to change in the areas of trade , economic policy , infrastructure requirements, nature and environmental protection , nutrition and food aid . American agriculture is increasingly becoming a "agri-business" ( agribusiness become). The agribusiness encompasses a wide variety of agricultural businesses and structures - from small family businesses to giant corporations or multinational corporations that own large estates or manufacture the goods and materials used by farmers. These farm companies, sometimes owned by shareholders, use more machinery and far fewer farm workers. In 1940 there were six million farms averaging 67 hectares each. At the end of the 1990s there were only around 2.2 million farms averaging 190 hectares. During this time, employment in agriculture fell dramatically - from 12.7 million in 1930 to 1.2 million in the 1990s.

While production has doubled in the past 50 years, the number of companies has fallen by more than two thirds. In 1980 about 80 hectares of usable area per farm were used for agriculture, by the year 2000 the size of the usable area per farm had increased to about 190 hectares. Today 150,000 American farm entrepreneurs produce most of the world's food and raw materials. Although they are among the most competitive companies in the world, they are only part of American agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture lists an additional two million farmers who meet the criterion of selling $ 1,000 per year in produce. Many of these producers have other jobs but appreciate the rural way of life.

tourism

The United States has the world's largest tourism industry. The country was ranked 6th in the 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum , according to figures from the World Tourism Organization , the country received 76.9 million visits from foreign tourists in 2017, making it the third most visited in the world after France and Spain . The revenue that brought these visitors, amounted to 251.4 billion US dollars , with which the United States have the highest revenues of all countries. Most international tourists come from neighboring countries Mexico and Canada , followed by countries in Europe and increasingly Asia. Most tourists in the United States have high purchasing power and stay in the country for extended periods of time, so the per capita tourist spending is relatively high. In addition to international tourism, domestic tourism is even more important. Domestic travelers spent nearly $ 1 trillion in the country in 2018. A total of 2.5 trillion US dollars of economic output and 15.7 million jobs are influenced by tourism.

Foreign trade

Foreign trade policy divided northern and southern states before the Civil War (1861–1865). The background is that at this time industrialization began in the north , while the south remained predominantly an agricultural country . In some northern states, as a result of the economic crisis of 1857, the conviction gained acceptance that higher protective tariffs could help the domestic economy to survive the crisis. The northern states successfully campaigned for a federal protective tariff policy to prevent cheap imports of foreign (where industrialization was more advanced) industrial goods and thus to be able to develop US industry. The landowners in the southern states, on the other hand, had to import industrial goods from abroad or from the north at a higher price.

In the early days of the establishment of the state and the economy focused mainly on the development of the domestic economy. From the middle of the 19th century, US politics increasingly tried to open up new trading areas through diplomacy and military interventions. In 1853 and 1854, for example, Commodere Matthew C. Perry visited Japan on behalf of President Fillmore, on the first visit with four and on the second visit with nine ships, including three of the world's largest warships at the time. Fillmore called for ports to be opened for trade. In 1854 a "Treaty on Friendship and Trade between Japan and the USA" was signed, at the same time ending the period when Japan was closed. In 1898 z. B. in a military intervention ( Spanish-American war ) both proceeded against the Spanish colonists and booted the independence movements in Cuba to represent the interests of US companies in the country.

In 1898, 90 percent of US products were sold domestically. However, the export share of the economy of 10 percent was already relatively high in international comparison and exports became an important part of sales for the largest US companies. In addition to agricultural goods (the largest export good was still cotton ), industrial goods, especially oil (now the second largest export good) were exported by Standard Oil .

The United States played a key role in the conclusion of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT ), an international code of customs and trade rules, and the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ). The development of electronic commerce raised a whole series of new questions about commerce. In 1998, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministers issued a declaration that countries will not interfere with e-commerce by imposing tariffs on electronic transmissions. The United States wants to declare the Internet a duty-free zone, ensure competition in the global telecommunications markets and introduce global protection for intellectual property in digital products.

In the past decade, exports were responsible for around a quarter of economic growth. More than twelve million jobs are dependent on exports - jobs with salaries 13 to 18 percent above average because productivity is higher. A third of the area of ​​American farms - about $ 56 billion in sales - is cultivated for export.

Regardless of this, the import far exceeds the export by far. According to the US Census Bureau, US exports totaled 124 billion US dollars in February 2007, of which 88.4 billion were for goods and 35.6 billion for services. Imports totaled $ 182.4 billion, of which $ 152.9 billion for goods and $ 29.5 billion for services. The foreign trade deficit is thus 58.4 billion dollars per month. In 2006, $ 1,436.8 billion were exported, of which $ 1,023.7 billion in goods and $ 413.1 billion in services. Imports were $ 2,202.1 billion, of which $ 1,859.7 billion were goods and $ 342.4 billion were services. This results in a deficit in goods of $ 836 billion and a surplus in services of $ 70.7 billion. The total foreign trade deficit in 2006 was $ 765.3 billion.

Main exporting countries in 2017

Country Share in billion US dollars Percentage
CanadaCanada Canada 282.4 18.3%
MexicoMexico Mexico 243.0 15.7%
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China 130.4 8.4%
JapanJapan Japan 67.7 4.4%
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 56.3 3.6%
GermanyGermany Germany 53.4 3.5%
Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea 48.3 3.1%
NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands 42.2 2.7%
Hong KongHong Kong Hong Kong 40.0 2.6%
BrazilBrazil Brazil 37.1 2.4%
All in all 1,546.8 100%

Main importing countries in 2017

Country Share in billion US dollars Percentage
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China 505.6 21.6%
MexicoMexico Mexico 314.0 13.4%
CanadaCanada Canada 300.8 12.8%
JapanJapan Japan 136.5 5.8%
GermanyGermany Germany 117.7 5.0%
Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea 71.2 3.0%
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 53.1 2.3%
ItalyItaly Italy 50.0 2.1%
FranceFrance France 48.9 2.1%
IrelandIreland Ireland 48.8 2.1%
All in all 2,342.9 100%

Monetary and financial policy

The role of government in the American economy goes well beyond being a regulatory body for certain industries. The government sets the pace of economic development and strives to maintain high levels of employment and stable prices. It has two important tools to achieve these goals: fiscal policy, through which it determines the appropriate level of taxes and expenditure, and monetary policy, through which it controls the flow of money. At the end of the 1990s the country experienced strong economic growth, combined with low unemployment and inflation rates.

On the positive side, disposable individual income grew six percent in 2002, the highest growth in many years. Strong productivity growth partially offset the effects of stagnant employment with reduced household income growth. The simultaneously effective tax reductions from the tax law “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act” (2001) noticeably increased the purchasing power of households.

In 2002, the United States economy continued the boom that began in late 2001. Economic conditions improved in the first half of 2002. Spending in both personal consumption and rent / housing remained stable, commercial enterprises limited their inventory sales and began to increase investment in manufacturing facilities. Employment in the private sector increased. After a budget surplus of $ 127 billion in fiscal year 2001, the government reported a deficit of $ 158 billion in fiscal year 2002. Government spending in fiscal year 2002 had increased by eight percent. Government spending increased significantly in many areas, including defense, homeland security, Medicaid, and income compensation (including the temporarily expanded unemployment benefit program).

Monetary policy is the responsibility of what is known as the Federal Reserve System , which was established by Congress in 1913. The Fed , as it is commonly known, has a board known as the Board of Governors and twelve private regional banks with a total of 25 branches. According to the law, all nationally licensed commercial banks must be members of the central banking system; membership is voluntary for the federally licensed commercial banks. Board members are appointed by the President of the United States with Senate approval for a 14-year term.

capital

According to a study by Bank Credit Suisse from 2017, the USA ranked first in the world for total national assets . Total real estate, stocks, and cash holdings totaled $ 93.56 trillion, making American households nearly a third of the world's approximately $ 280 trillion in wealth. The wealth per adult person is 388,585 dollars on average and 55,876 dollars in median (in Germany: 203,946 and 47,091 dollars, respectively). In terms of average wealth per inhabitant, the country ranks fourth in the world behind Iceland , Switzerland and Australia . The country ranks 25th for median wealth per inhabitant. Overall, 68.7% of Americans' total wealth was financial wealth and 31.3% was non-financial wealth. Compared to other countries, American assets are primarily invested in the American bond and stock markets, each of which is the largest in the world. The Gini coefficient for wealth distribution was 85.9 in 2017, which indicates very high wealth inequality. The top 10% of the American population owned 76.7% of the wealth and the top 1% owned 38.3% of the wealth, which is a higher concentration of wealth than almost any developed country. The proportion of Americans with net worth less than $ 10,000 is estimated at 28.5% of the population and the proportion with net worth over $ 1 million is estimated at 6.4%. A total of 15.4 million Americans were millionaires , making the country 40% of the world's millionaires in US $. Likewise, the US was the country with the highest number of billionaires in the world with a total of 585. According to Forbes , 7 of the 10 richest people in the world were American. The richest man in the country and the world was Jeff Bezos with a fortune of 112 billion US dollars (as of 2018).

Taxes

Tax revenue by source

The share of income tax has increased from 10% to 40% of total tax revenue over the past 70 years. At the same time, the share of corporate taxes fell from 30% to 10%.

Indebtedness

The average household in the US had a debt of approximately $ 10,000 in 2007. In addition, there are liabilities from real estate. The population's credit card debt was over $ 800 billion that same year, tripling in 20 years.

The national debt exceeded the beginning of October 2008, the mark of 10 trillion dollars. In November 2009, it hit the $ 12.031 trillion mark. By April 2011, it continued to climb to $ 14.272 trillion. In mid-October 2013 the debt exceeded $ 17 trillion. In February 2018 total public debt was 20.6 trillion US dollars .

In fiscal year 2009 (from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009) the budget deficit (increase in national debt) was $ 1,417 billion.

National debt traditionally plays a very large role in the public discourse in the USA, especially because many conservative citizens are reluctant to accept national debt. The increase in the statutory debt ceiling led to the political debt crisis in 2011 . Even fiscally conservative voices such as The Economist note that the external national debt of the USA in an international and particularly European comparison is a very low value of only 65% ​​of GDP net and advocate an increase in the debt ceiling. In 2018, the national debt rose to $ 22,000 billion, or 106% of GDP. IMF / Statista 2018.

Stock exchange

Businesses turn to capital markets to raise funds to finance factory and office buildings, etc., conduct research and development, and a variety of other important activities. A large part of the money comes from important institutions such as pension funds, insurance companies, banks, foundations, colleges and universities. It is also increasingly coming from individuals. Today approximately 52 percent of households own shares , compared to just 32 percent in 1989. In 2017, stocks worth a total of 32.1 trillion were traded on all American stock exchanges.

Americans pride themselves on the efficiency of their stock market and other capital markets. These markets owe their success to computers on the one hand, but are also dependent on tradition and trust. There are thousands of stocks out there, but the stocks of the largest, most famous, and most traded companies are generally listed on the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE ). Most of the stocks and shares traded are traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System ( NASDAQ ). This so-called over-the-counter business, in which around 5,240 shares are traded, does not take place in a specific location. Rather, it is an electronic communication network for stock and securities dealers. An unexpected boom in the stock market combined with easier investment in stocks led to a dramatic increase in public participation in the stock markets in the 1990s. The annual trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange, the "Big Board", soared from 11,400 million shares in 1980 to 169,000 million shares in 1998.

Established in 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission is the primary regulator of the securities markets in the United States. Before 1929, the individual states regulated the securities activities. The collapse of the stock market in 1929 , the Great Depression triggered, showed the inadequacy of this definition. The Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 gave the federal government a prominent role in protecting small investors from fraud. They made it easier to understand the companies' financial reports.

labour market

Unemployment rate

The structure of the American workforce changed fundamentally with the development of America from an agrarian society to a modern industrial state. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century there was great industrial growth. Many Americans left farms and small towns to work in factories. These factories were characterized by mass production, a strict hierarchy, the use of unskilled labor and low wages. In this environment strong unions developed. Today trade unions continue to be a major political and economic force, but their influence has diminished. The manufacturing sector has lost its importance. The service sector has grown. The changed environment of the 1980s and 1990s weakened the position of the trade unions, which today represent a declining proportion of the workforce. While more than a third of the workforce were unionized in 1945, membership fell to 13.2 percent in 2002. In 2002 there were 16.1 million union members in the United States.

From 1950 to the end of 2002, the number of non-agricultural employees rose from 45 million to 130.7 million. The computer, healthcare, and other service sectors saw the greatest growth. The increase in employment in the service sector made it possible to employ workers who had been made redundant by increasing productivity in the manufacturing sector. In 1946 there were 24.4 million jobs in the service industry. In 2002 there were 107.1 million jobs in this area. The goods-producing sector - which includes manufacturing, construction and mining - had 17.2 million jobs in 1946. At the end of 2002 there were 23.6 million.

Many of the new jobs in the service sector are neither well paid nor do they have the social benefits as in the manufacturing industry. Due to the resulting financial bottlenecks, both partners are forced to work in many families. Salaries are no longer used to reward employees equally. Rather, workers such as B. Recruiting and retaining software experts . This development has contributed to widening the income gap between highly skilled and unskilled workers. In 1979, the median weekly earnings varied from $ 215 for workers with less than secondary education to $ 348 for college graduates. In 1998 this ranged from $ 337 to $ 821. While the minimum wage increased almost annually in the 1970s, there were few increases in the 1980s and 1990s.

The unemployment rate in America has for years been at a low level compared to many European countries. The unemployment rate was around 4.4% in March 2007 and climbed to 10.2% in October 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis . In August 2011 the unemployment rate was 9.1%. Since analysts had expected a much lower rate, the announcement of these figures led to price losses on the stock exchanges. However, it should be noted in this context that the survey of unemployment figures in the USA differs significantly in terms of its method from the European countries and especially Germany. Because while z. For example, exact figures can be collected by the employment offices in Germany, since every unemployment benefit / Hartz IV recipient is registered, the collection in the USA is based on representative telephone surveys. If one also counts discouraged workers who no longer register and part-time workers who want a full-time job, the actual unemployment rate in the USA in 2010 is 17.5%, which is the level of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In June 2017 it was still 8.6%.

At the beginning of 2018, the official unemployment rate fell again to 4.1%.

Key figures

Various macroeconomic indicators of the American economy from 1980 to 2017. All GDP values ​​are given in dollars. Inflation above 3% is marked with a red arrow. At constant inflation-adjusted prices, GDP per capita increased from $ 28,338 in 1980 to $ 52,460 in 2017.

year GDP
(billion US dollars) 		GDP per capita
(in US dollars) 		GDP growth
(real) 		Inflation rate
(in percent) 		Unemployment rate
(in percent) 		Public debt
(in% of GDP)
1980 2,862.5 12,576   −0.2%   13.5% 7.2% k. A.
1981   3,211.0   13,966   2.6%   10.4%   7.6% k. A.
1982   3,345.0   14,410   −1.9%   6.2%   9.7% k. A.
1983   3,638.1   15,531   4.6%   3.2%   9.6% k. A.
1984   4,040.7   17,099   7.3%   4.4%   7.5% k. A.
1985   4,346.7   18,232   4.2%   3.5%   7.2% k. A.
1986   4,590.1   19,078   3.5%   1.9%   7.0% k. A.
1987   4,870.2   20,063   3.5%   3.6%   6.2% k. A.
1988   5,252.6   21,442   4.2%   4.1%   5.5% k. A.
1989   5,657.7   22,879   3.7%   4.8%   5.3% k. A.
1990   5,979.6   23,914   1.9%   5.4%   5.6% k. A.
1991   6,174.1   24,366   −0.1%   4.2%   6.9% k. A.
1992   6,539.3   25,467   3.6%   3.0%   7.5% k. A.
1993   6,878.7   26,441   2.7%   3.0%   6.9% k. A.
1994   7,308.8   27,756   4.0%   2.6%   6.1% k. A.
1995   7,664.1   28,763   2.7%   2.8%   5.6% k. A.
1996   8,100.2   30,047   3.8%   2.9%   5.4% k. A.
1997   8,608.5   31,554   4.5%   2.3%   4.9% k. A.
1998   9,089.1   32,929   4.5%   1.5%   4.5% k. A.
1999   9,660.6   34,602   4.7%   2.2%   4.2% k. A.
2000   10,284.8   36,433   4.1%   3.4%   4.0% k. A.
2001   10,621.8   37,241   1.0%   2.8%   4.7% 53.0%
2002   10,977.5   38.114   1.8%   1.6%   5.7%   55.4%
2003   11,510.7   39,592   2.8%   2.3%   6.0%   58.4%
2004   12,274.9   41,838   3.8%   2.7%   5.5%   65.8%
2005   13,093.7   44,218   3.3%   3.4%   5.1%   65.2%
2006   13,855.9   46,352   2.7%   3.2%   4.6%   64.1%
2007   14,477.6   47,955   1.8%   2.9%   4.6%   64.6%
2008   14,718.5   48,302   −0.3%   3.8%   5.8%   73.7%
2009   14,418.7   46.909   −2.8%   −0.3%   9.3%   87.0%
2010   14,964.4   48,311   2.5%   1.6%   9.6%   95.4%
2011   15,517.9   49,736   1.6%   3.1%   8.9%   99.7%
2012   16,155.3   51,404   2.2%   2.1%   8.1%   99.8%
2013   16,691.5   52,737   1.7%   1.5%   7.4%   103.2%
2014   17,521.9   54,993   2.6%   1.6%   6.2%   104.8%
2015   18,219.3   56,770   2.9%   0.1%   5.3%   104.4%
2016   18,707.2   57,878   1.6%   1.3%   4.9%   104.7%
2017   19,485.4   59,895   2.3%   2.1%   4.4%   106.2%
2018   20,494.1   62,606   2.9%   2.4%   3.9%   105.8%

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ IMF - World Economic Outlook Database, October 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010
  2. ↑ a b GDP (current US $). Retrieved June 27, 2017 (American English).
  3. ↑ [1] Retrieved January 29, 2018
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  5. ↑ [3] Retrieved January 29, 2018
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  7. ↑ "United States Census Bureau" , accessed January 2, 2015.
  8. ↑ a b http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np
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  10. ↑ [6] Retrieved January 29, 2018
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  13. ↑ Country / Economy Profiles . In: Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 . ( weforum.org [accessed November 22, 2017]).
  14. ↑ see also Otmar Emminger : D-Mark, Dollar, currency crises. Memories of a former Federal Bank President , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-421-06333-8 (Chapters 6 and 7)
  15. ↑ dt. "The state is not the solution to our problem, the state is the problem"
  16. ^ Sidney Plotkin, William Scheuerman, Deficit Spending , South End Press, 1994, ISBN 0-89608-464-7 , 15
  17. ↑ Heather Long: US economy grew at a pace very close to Trump's 3 percent goal at the end of last year . In: chicagotribune.com . ( chicagotribune.com [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Country Comparison
  19. ↑ a b Fortune 500 Companies 2017: Who Made the List. Retrieved December 21, 2017 (American English).
  20. ↑ [7] Retrieved April 28, 2019
  21. ↑ [8] Retrieved April 28, 2019
  22. ^ A b Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States . Harper Perennial, New York 2005, ISBN 0-06-083865-5 , pp. 283-286.
  23. ↑ The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017. Accessed July 17, 2019 .
  24. ^ Jeff Desjardins: Map: The World's Top Countries for Tourism. October 1, 2018, Retrieved July 17, 2019 (American English).
  25. ↑ US Travel and Tourism Overview (2018). Retrieved July 17, 2019 .
  26. ↑ James L. Huston: The Panic of 1857 and the Coming of the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA [u. a.] 1987, pp. 144ff. ISBN 0-8071-1368-9
  27. ^ Howard Zinn: A People's History of the United States . Harper Perennial, New York 2005, ISBN 0-06-083865-5 , p. 301
  28. ↑ a b US Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division: Foreign Trade: Data. Retrieved March 29, 2018 (American English).
  29. ↑ Global Wealth Databook 2017. Credit Suisse, accessed July 14, 2018 .
  30. ↑ The World's Billionaires 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018 .
  31. ↑ tagesschau.de, The US real estate crisis is a US credit crisis - is it the end of the “everything on pump” buying culture? , August 17, 2007 (tagesschau.de archive)
  32. ↑ http://www.20min.ch/news/ausland/story/29505982
  33. ↑ http://www.cash.ch/news/topnews/ushaushaltsdefizit_erstmals_ueber_zwoelf_billionen_dollar-845844-771
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  35. ↑ AFP / AP / lk: Debt: USA reports record deficit of 1.42 trillion dollars. In: welt.de . October 16, 2009, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  36. ↑ The Economist July 9th-15th 2011, p. 13
  37. ↑ Bruno Urmersbach: USA: National Debt from 2008 to 2018 (in billion US dollars). Statista GmbH, Hamburg, August 9, 2019, accessed on September 13, 2019 .
  38. ↑ Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (current US $) | Data. Retrieved July 14, 2018 (American English).
  39. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung of September 3, 2011, page 23, article Economic Arthritis
  40. ↑ Real unemployment rate at 17.5 percent . In: The Standard . November 7, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  41. ↑ Jobless Recovery . In: New York Times . November 7, 2009. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  42. ^ Gallup, Inc .: Real Unemployment - Department of Labor (U-6) . In: Gallup.com . ( gallup.com [accessed July 8, 2017]).
  43. ↑ United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Unemployment Rate , accessed January 12, 2018.
  44. ^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved September 2, 2018 (American English).