In the first quarter of 2024, the US economy expanded by 1.4%, according to the Commerce Department’s third and final reading released Thursday. This is a slight increase from the second reading of 1.3% in the previous month, but still lower than the 3.4% expansion seen in the fourth quarter of 2023. The current dollar GDP saw an annual rate increase of 4.5%, or $312.2 billion, bringing the total GDP to $28.77 trillion.
The new figure is approximately $13.2 billion higher than the previous estimate made in May, with personal income increasing by $396.8 billion in the first quarter, and disposable personal income rising by $240.2 billion, representing an increase of 4.8%. However, there was a downward revision of $7.7 billion for personal income, while the personal saving rate remained at 3.8%, despite a decrease of $19.3 billion in personal savings from the previous estimate due to increased spending on goods and services. Real gross domestic income increased by only 1.3% in the January-March period, a drop of 0.2 percentage points from earlier estimates due to increased spending on goods and services rather than investment and net exports.
