The United States is the most powerful economy in the world. Nevertheless, it was the first to suffer the consequences of the financial crisis in 2009, during which it experienced the worst recession since the crisis of the 1930s. Economic recovery began in 2010 thanks to the Government’s large-scale budget and monetary stimulus plan, which stimulated household consumption among other positive results. However, the pace of the recovery has struggled to accelerate since then. The overall GDP growth rate in 2014 was 2.2%, demonstrating the resilience of the American economy, but it followed an erratic path: it declined by 2.9% in the first trimester due to a cold spell, but rebounded in the second and third trimesters, rising at a rate of 4.6% and 3.9% respectively.
President Obama won a clear second-term majority in the 2012 elections, pledging to counter inequality and to defend the middle class. But, his party did not fare as well in the mid-term elections of 2014, which saw the Republicans take over the Senate and consolidate their control in the House of Representatives. The Republicans, for their part, pledged to concentrate on economic growth and cut public spending (except on national defence). The divided Government between a Democratic President and a Republican Congress foreshadows an intense debates over the Federal budget.
Since the financial crisis, regulation and supervision of financial markets have been on the agenda. Another challenge facing the U.S. involves an ageing population, resulting in rising healthcare costs. The Obama administration is also focusing on combatting corporate tax evasion, announcing in September 2014 various measures to close tax loopholes. The most prominent of these loopholes is “corporate inversion,” whereby companies establish their headquarters abroad to avoid paying American taxes, even as they continue to operate in the U.S.
The global financial crisis provoked a significant increase in unemployment. On the plus side, in 2014, official figures show that 230,000 new jobs were created on average and that the unemployment rate decreased to 6.1%. On the other hand, this masks a decline in the labour force participation rate. When one takes into consideration discouraged workers who have quit the labour market and those forced to accept part-time positions, the real unemployment rate climbs to 11.5% (compared to 8-10% before the crisis). Moreover, wages have not been rising at pre-crisis levels. In addition, inequalities of wealth and income have been increasing since the 1980s, currently reaching their highest levels in the past century. In the last trimester of 2014, declines in oil prices increased the purchasing power of American consumers, but the growing strength of the dollar is penalising exporters.
Following the crisis of 2009, the Fed supplied large sums of liquidity into the economy every month. Since mid-2013, it has sought to reduce these amounts without weakening the recovery. At the same time, the Fed is keeping interest rates low. It is not expected to raise the rates before late 2015. While these low rates push domestic consumption, there is a risk they could create a credit bubble, spurring panic in the market when they start to rise.
|Main Indicators||2011||2012||2013||2014||2015 (e)|
|GDP (billions USD)||15,517.93||16,163.15||16,768.05||17,416.25||18,286.69|
|GDP (Constant Prices, Annual % Change)||1.6||2.3||2.2||2.2||3.1|
|GDP per Capita (USD)||49,746||51,450e||53e||54,678||57,045|
|General Government Balance (in % of GDP)||-7.8||-6.3||-4.8||-4.0e||-3.3|
|General Government Gross Debt (in % of GDP)||99.0||102.5||104.2||105.6e||105.1|
|Inflation Rate (%)||3.1||2.1||1.5e||2.0e||2.1|
|Unemployment Rate (% of the Labor Force)||8.9||8.1||7.4||6.3||5.9|
|Current Account (billions USD)||-459.35||-460.75||-400.26||-430.94||-483.58|
|Current Account (in % of GDP)||-3.0||-2.9||-2.4||-2.5||-2.6|
Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database , Last Available Data
Note: (e) Estimated Data
The American agricultural sector is without a doubt the biggest in the world. It is characterized by high productivity and by the use of modern technologies. The United States is one of the major producers of corn, soy, beef and cotton. California alone produces more than 12% of the country's total agricultural production. Nevertheless, agriculture only accounts for 1% of the American GNP.
The United States is a highly industrialized country. The industrial sector contributes to almost one-fourth of the GDP and includes a large variety of activities. The most significant are the manufacturing of electric and electronic machinery, chemical products, industrial machinery, the food industry and automobile sectors. It is also the world leader in aerospace and pharmaceutical industries. The abundance of natural resources has turned the United States into a leader in the production of several minerals and allows it to maintain a diversified production. It is thus the largest world producer of liquid natural gas, aluminum, electricity and nuclear energy. It is the third largest oil producer in the world and, after having extracted it for several years, the shale gas has also been developed on a large scale.
The American economy is essentially based on services. The tertiary sector accounts for more than three-fourths of the GDP and of the country's workforce.
|Breakdown of Economic Activity By Sector||Agriculture||Industry||Services|
|Employment By Sector (in % of Total Employment)||1.6||16.7||81.2|
|Value Added (in % of GDP)||1.3||21.0||77.7|
|Value Added (Annual % Change)||0.3||3.8||2.2|
Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.
|American Dollar (USD) - Average Annual Exchange Rate For 1 EUR||1.39||1.32||1.39||1.29||1.32|
Source: CIA - The world factbook - Last Available Data.
The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.
The business rankings model measures the quality or attractiveness of the business environment in the 82 countries covered by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Country Forecast reports. It examines ten separate criteria or categories, covering the political environment, the macroeconomic environment, market opportunities, policy towards free enterprise and competition, policy towards foreign investment, foreign trade and exchange controls, taxes, financing, the labour market and infrastructure.
In general, the country has reduced its trade barriers and it coordinates the world economic system. The United States is convinced that trade promotes economic growth, social stability, and democracy in each individual country and also helps to promotes better international relations. Nevertheless, trade represents less than 30% of the country’s GDP. The United States is the world's largest importer and second largest exporter of goods and the largest importer and exporter of commercial services. As part of the 2010 economic stimulus plan, the administration adopted a policy of promoting exports, with the aim of doubling exports in the next five years.
The U.S. trade balance is structurally very negative. As an effect of the economic crisis, the reduction in imports also reduced the deficit; however, with the economic recovery the deficit grew larger in 2011. In 2013, the trade deficit was partially reabsorbed due to a slight revival in exports and a decrease in energy expenses. In 2013, imports decreased from the first time since 2009
The main trade partners of the United States are the countries of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement composed of the United States, Mexico and Canada), China and the European Union. Since July 2013, the United States started the negotiations to sign a free-trade agreement with the European Union.
|Foreign Trade Indicators||2009||2010||2011||2012||2013|
|Imports of Goods (million USD)||1,605,300||1,969,184||2,265,894||2,335,537||2,331,367|
|Exports of Goods (million USD)||1,056,040||1,278,263||1,480,432||1,545,710||1,578,972|
|Imports of Services (million USD)||334,310||374,894||400,561||416,813||427,260|
|Exports of Services (million USD)||475,979||540,587||597,925||630,284||662,111|
|Imports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change)||-13.7||12.7||5.5||2.3||1.1|
|Exports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change)||-8.8||11.9||6.9||3.3||3.0|
|Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP)||13.8||15.8||17.3||17.1||16.5|
|Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP)||11.0||12.4||13.6||13.6||13.5|
|Trade Balance (million USD)||-509,696||-648,678||-740,644||-742,093||-701,667|
|Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD)||-383,778||-494,659||-548,629||-537,598||-476,391|
|Foreign Trade (in % of GDP)||24.8||28.2||30.9||30.7||30.0|
Source: WTO - World Trade Organization ; World Bank , Last Available Data
(% of Exports)
|See More Countries||51.8%|
(% of Imports)
|See More Countries||42.5%|
Source: Comtrade, Last Available Data
|- bn USD of products exported in 2013|
|Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (excl. crude); preparations containing >= 70% by weight of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations, n.e.s.; waste oils containing mainly petroleum or bituminous minerals||7.1%|
|Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, incl. station wagons and racing cars (excl. motor vehicles of heading 8702)||3.6%|
|Parts and accessories for tractors, motor vehicles...Parts and accessories for tractors, motor vehicles for the transport of ten or more persons, motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, motor vehicles for the transport of goods and special purpose motor vehicles of heading 8701 to 8705, n.e.s.||2.7%|
|Electronic integrated circuits and microassembliesElectronic integrated circuits and microassemblies||2.2%|
|Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought...Gold, incl. gold plated with platinum, unwrought or not further worked than semi-manufactured or in powder form||2.0%|
|See More Products||82.3%|
|- bn USD of products imported in 2013|
|Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude||12.0%|
|Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally...Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons, incl. station wagons and racing cars (excl. motor vehicles of heading 8702)||6.7%|
|Automatic data processing machines and units...Automatic data processing machines and units thereof; magnetic or optical readers, machines for transcribing data onto data media in coded form and machines for processing such data, n.e.s.||4.0%|
|Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous...Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals (excl. crude); preparations containing >= 70% by weight of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations, n.e.s.; waste oils containing mainly petroleum or bituminous minerals||3.8%|
|Transmission apparatus for radio-telephony,...Transmission apparatus for radio-telephony, radio-telegraphy, radio-broadcasting or television, whether or not incorporating reception apparatus or sound recording or reproducing apparatus; television cameras; still image video cameras and other video camera recorders; digital cameras||2.6%|
|See More Products||70.9%|
Source: Comtrade, Last Available Data
|- bn USD of services exported in 2011|
|Air transportAir transport||22.80%|
|Sea transportSea transport||1.87%|
|Computer servicesComputer services||4.59%|
|Information servicesInformation services||2.45%|
|Other direct insuranceOther direct insurance||1.99%|
|Auxiliary servicesAuxiliary services||0.73%|
|Telecommunications servicesTelecommunications services||5.74%|
|Postal and courier servicesPostal and courier services||0.11%|
|Construction abroadConstruction abroad||1.40%|
|Other personal, cultural, and...Other personal, cultural, and recreational services||0.41%|
|Business travelBusiness travel||3.35%|
|Expenditure by seasonal and...Expenditure by seasonal and border workers||3.35%|
|Operational leasing servicesOperational leasing services||3.24%|
|Merchanting and other trade-related...Merchanting and other trade-related services||1.90%|
|Other trade-related servicesOther trade-related services||0.31%|
|Franchises and similar rightsFranchises and similar rights||9.62%|
|- bn USD of services imported in 2011|
|Personal travelPersonal travel||19.96%|
|Education-related expenditureEducation-related expenditure||1.37%|
|Health-related expenditureHealth-related expenditure||0.27%|
|Business travelBusiness travel||0.12%|
|Expenditure by seasonal and...Expenditure by seasonal and border workers||0.12%|
|Air transportAir transport||8.79%|
|Sea transportSea transport||6.91%|
|Miscellaneous business,...Miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services||17.40%|
|Legal, accounting, management...Legal, accounting, management consulting, and public relations||6.72%|
|Business and management...Business and management consulting and public relations services||5.78%|
|Accounting, auditing,...Accounting, auditing, bookkeeping, and tax consulting services||0.52%|
|Research and developmentResearch and development||5.21%|
|Other business servicesOther business services||4.24%|
|Advertising, market research,...Advertising, market research, and public opinion polling||0.68%|
|Architectural, engineering,...Architectural, engineering, and other technical services||0.34%|
|Agricultural, mining, and...Agricultural, mining, and on-site processing services||0.21%|
|Operational leasing servicesOperational leasing services||0.45%|
|Merchanting and other trade-related...Merchanting and other trade-related services||0.37%|
|Other trade-related servicesOther trade-related services||0.37%|
|Other direct insuranceOther direct insurance||1.05%|
|Auxiliary servicesAuxiliary services||0.38%|
|Franchises and similar rightsFranchises and similar rights||1.15%|
|Computer servicesComputer services||5.27%|
|Information servicesInformation services||0.44%|
|Telecommunications servicesTelecommunications services||1.79%|
|Postal and courier servicesPostal and courier services||0.09%|
|Construction abroadConstruction abroad||0.41%|
|Construction in the compiling...Construction in the compiling economy||0.15%|
|Other personal, cultural, and...Other personal, cultural, and recreational services||0.13%|
Source: Comtrade, Last Available Data
The world rankings, published annually, measures the violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire sent to partner organizations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and activists of human rights, including the main criteria - 44 in total - to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).
The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.
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Last Updates: January 2015