Date: August 8, 2016
Contact: Tanya Harris Joshua 202-208-6008
[email protected]
Bureau of Economic Analysis Releases
2015 GDP Data for American Samoa
Territory now has GDP Data Spanning 14 years beginning in 2002
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 8, 2016) – Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia’aina
announced today that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
has released gross domestic product (GDP) data for 2015 for American Samoa.
The release of the GDP estimates is a critical part of a technical assistance agreement between
the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) and the BEA to generate GDP data for the island territories of
American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Island and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands in a manner consistent with GDP data collection for states and the nation as a whole.
“GDP data is critically important for leaders in American Samoa and other U.S. territories to
make informed decisions on fiscal policies and economic development strategies,” said Assistant
Secretary Kia’aina. "We are pleased to support BEA's collaboration with the territories in this
worthwhile endeavor and look forward to having such work be automatically included in the
agency's annual budget."
The BEA released the first official set of GDP data for the U.S. territories under OIA jurisdiction
in May 2010, which covered the period of 2002-2007, and has since provided data for each
subsequent year. With this 2015 release, the territories now have official GDP data that cover the
2002-2015 period.
The BEA is currently mandated to provide GDP data for the United States, the 50 states and the
District of Columbia (D.C.), but not U.S. territories. To produce GDP data for the territories as
is done for the Nation, the 50 states and D.C., OIA entered into a technical assistance agreement
with the BEA that provides $750,000 annually to cover the cost of BEA’s technical expertise and
field work in the territories. Over the course of the last several years, the BEA has worked
closely with staff in the territories to develop mechanisms to gather and calculate the GDP data.
Among the critical data the BEA generates are the details of the composition of island economic
output which provide insight into economic structure and potential for economic growth and
development. The OIA-BEA agreement is the only system to generate these basic economic
data for the territories that are otherwise statutorily made readily available for the 50 states and
D.C.
The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for coordinating federal policy with respect to the
territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, and administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance provided to
the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall
Islands, and the Republic of Palau under the Compacts of Free Association. On behalf of the
Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas executes these responsibilities through the
Office of Insular Affairs whose mission is to foster economic opportunities, promote government
efficiency, and improve the quality of life for the people of the insular areas.
###
EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 4:00 P.M. EDT, Monday, August 8, 2016
BEA 16-43
Technical:
Kevin Furlong (BEA)
(301) 278-9075
[email protected]ov
Media:
Jeannine Aversa (BEA)
(301) 278-9003
Jeannine.Aversa@bea.gov
Tanya Harris Joshua (OIA)
(202) 208-6008
[email protected]oi.gov
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT FOR AMERICAN SAMOA
INCREASES FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
UTULEI, AMERICAN SAMOA (August 8, 2016) -- Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is
releasing estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for American Samoa for 2015, in addition to
estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2014.
1
These estimates were developed
under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
Revised estimates of GDP for 2013 and 2014, as well as revised estimates of GDP by industry and
compensation by industry for 2013, are presented in this release.
Gross Domestic Product for 2015
The estimates of GDP for American Samoa show that real GDP–GDP adjusted to remove price changes–
increased 1.1 percent in 2015 after increasing 1.3 percent in 2014 (see Table 1.3). For comparison, real
GDP for the United States (excluding the territories) increased 2.6 percent in 2015 after increasing 2.4
percent in 2014.
1
These estimates are based on limited source data and are subject to revision.
Real GDP: Percent change from preceding year
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
The growth in the American Samoa economy reflected increases in exports of goods and government
spending (see Table 1.4). These increases were partly offset by an increase in imports of goods, which is
a subtraction item in the calculation of GDP.
Exports of goods grew for a second consecutive year. This growth reflected increased activity of the tuna
canning industry, which continued to increase its output after opening a multimillion-dollar canning
plant in early 2015.
Government spending also increased, reflecting growth in spending by the territorial government. Major
territorial government projects in 2015 included the rebuilding of the Satala Power Plant and the
telecommunication authority’s work to improve broadband capacity and coverage in American Samoa.
Gross Domestic Product by Industry and Compensation by Industry for 2014
The estimates of GDP by industry for American Samoa show that the private sector expanded in 2014,
due to growth in nonmanufacturing and manufacturing industries, while the government sector
contracted (see Table 2.4). The growth in the manufacturing sector reflected higher output of the tuna
canning industry. The decline in the government sector primarily reflected operating losses of territorial
government enterprises.
The compensation by industry estimates, which are measured in current dollars, show trends in
compensation for major industries (see Table 2.6). Total compensation increased in 2014, reflecting
increases in all sectors except federal government.
The accompanying tables present estimates for GDP and its major components, GDP by industry, and
compensation by industry. Also included in this release are estimates for the major components of gross
domestic income.
Revisions to GDP
Estimates for 2013 and 2014 that were released on January 13, 2016 have been revised in order to
incorporate improvements to source data, including:
newly available trade data from the American Samoa Department of Commerce,
newly available data for territorial government spending from government financial statements, and
newly available wage information from the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns.
The revised estimates show a similar pattern of inflation-adjusted growth as the previously published
estimates (see Table 1.7).
Future directions
Moving forward, an agreement between OIA and BEA will extend and improve the estimates of GDP for
American Samoa. The information provided by the American Samoa Government will continue to be
critical to the successful production of these estimates.
BEA currently plans to release GDP estimates for 2016 in the summer of 2017. GDP by industry and
compensation by industry estimates for 2015 will also be released at the same time.
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Additional Information
Resources
Stay informed about BEA developments by
reading the BEA blog, signing up for BEA’s email
subscription service, or following BEA on Twitter
@BEA_News.
Historical time series for these estimates can be
accessed at BEA’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
for the U.S. Territories.
Access BEA data by registering for BEA’s Data
Application Programming Interface (API).
For more on BEA’s statistics, see our monthly
online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
BEA's news release schedule
Definitions
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of the goods
and services produced by the American Samoa economy
less the value of the goods and services used up in
production. GDP is also equal to the sum of personal
consumption expenditures, private fixed investment,
change in private inventories, net exports of goods and
services, and government consumption expenditures and
gross investment.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE), also referred to
as “consumer spending,” measures the goods and services
purchased by “persons”—that is, by households and by
nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISHs)—who
are resident in American Samoa.
Private fixed investment (PFI) measures spending by
private businesses, nonprofit institutions, and households
on fixed assets in the American Samoa economy. Fixed
assets consist of structures, equipment, and software that
are used in the production of goods and services.
Change in private inventories (CIPI), or “inventory
investment,” is a measure of the value of the change in the
physical volume of the inventories—additions less
withdrawals—that businesses maintain to support their
production and distribution activities.
Net exports of goods and services is the difference
between exports of goods and services and imports of
goods and services. Exports measures the portion of total
American Samoa production of goods and services that is
provided to the rest of the world. Imports measures the
portion of total American Samoa expenditures that is
accounted for by goods and services provided by the rest
of the world.
Government consumption expenditures and gross
investment, or “government spending,” measures the
portion of GDP that is accounted for by the government
sector. Government consumption expenditures consists of
spending by government to produce and provide services
to the public. Gross investment consists of spending by
government for fixed assets that directly benefit the public
or that assist government agencies in their production
activities.
Gross domestic income (GDI) is the sum of incomes earned
and costs incurred in the production of GDP. In national
economic accounting, GDP and GDI are conceptually
equal.
Current-dollar estimates are valued in the prices of the
period when the transactions occurred—that is, at
“market value.” Also referred to as “nominal estimates” or
as “current-price estimates.”
Real values are inflation-adjusted estimates—that is,
estimates that exclude the effects of price changes.
Statistical Conventions
Quantities and prices. Quantities, or “real” volume
measures, and prices are expressed as index numbers with
a specified reference year equal to 100 (currently 2009).
Quantity and price indexes are calculated using a Fisher
chain-weighted formula that incorporates weights from
two adjacent years. “Real” dollar series are calculated by
multiplying the quantity index by the current-dollar value
in the reference year (2009) and then dividing by 100.
Chained-dollar values are not additive because the
relative weights for a given period differ from those of the
reference year.
- 3 -
List of News Release Tables
Table 1.1. Gross Domestic Product
Table 1.2. Real Gross Domestic Product, Chained Dollars
Table 1.3. Percent Change From Preceding Year in Real Gross Domestic Product
Table 1.4. Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product
Table 1.5. Percent Change From Preceding Year in Prices for Gross Domestic Product and Price
Indexes for Gross Domestic Product
Table 1.6. Gross Domestic Income
Table 1.7. Revisions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product
Table 2.1. Value Added by Industry
Table 2.2. Value Added by Industry as a Percentage of GDP
Table 2.3. Real Value Added by Industry
Table 2.4. Percent Changes in Real Value Added by Industry
Table 2.5. Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product by Industry
Table 2.6. Compensation of Employees by Industry
- 4 -
1. Domestic Product and Income
Gross domestic product 1 520 563 678 576 574 644 639 638 641
Personal consumption expenditures 2 383 407 398 402 414 424 446 452 442
Goods 3 195 208 196 197 188 189 213 216 206
Durable goods 4 23 27 24 25 23 23 29 34 30
Nondurable goods 5 171 181 172 172 166 167 184 182 175
Services 6 189 202 207 211 229 242 243 247 245
Net foreign travel 7 -1 -3 -5 -5 -4 -6 -10 -11 -9
Private fixed investment 8 41 46 38 49 51 53 60 66 62
Change in private inventories 9 -8 -17 -6 -5 -3 0 5 32 10
Net exports of goods and services 10 -116 -113 -26 -174 -225 -161 -185 -256 -240
Exports 11 505 641 530 364 335 482 456 423 425
Goods 12 487 621 510 341 313 456 431 397 399
Services 13 17 20 20 22 22 26 25 26 26
Imports 14 621 754 556 537 559 643 641 678 666
Goods 15 571 698 508 489 509 588 586 616 601
Services 16 50 56 49 48 50 55 54 63 64
Government consumption
expenditures and gross investment 17 220 241 275 304 337 329 313 344 367
Federal 18 17 20 30 22 23 22 22 24 24
Territorial 19 203 220 244 281 314 306 291 319 343
2014
Line
American Samoa
Table 1.1. Gross Domestic Product
[Millions of dollars]
NOTE. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
2007 20152008 20102009 20132011 2012
- 5 -
Gross domestic product 1 727 708 678 681 683 653 632 641 648
Personal consumption expenditures 2 420 410 398 381 364 357 368 371 369
Goods 3 216 212 196 187 170 165 182 184 177
Durable goods 4 27 27 24 24 21 19 25 28 25
Nondurable goods 5 190 185 172 163 149 146 157 155 151
Services 6 207 202 207 200 198 197 195 197 199
Net foreign travel 7 -3 -4 -5 -6 -4 -6 -9 -9 -7
Private fixed investment 8 40 45 38 50 52 51 55 59 55
Change in private inventories 9 -7 -11 -6 -4 -2 0 5 26 10
Net exports of goods and services 10 52 36 -26 -48 -67 -67 -85 -122 -109
Exports 11 678 675 530 446 394 412 408 424 458
Goods 12 658 654 510 424 372 388 386 401 435
Services 13 20 20 20 22 20 23 22 22 22
Imports 14 626 639 556 494 460 479 494 547 567
Goods 15 575 586 508 450 417 433 448 496 514
Services 16 51 52 49 45 44 47 46 51 53
Government consumption
expenditures and gross investment 17 227 239 275 290 309 297 278 299 320
Federal 18 18 20 30 22 22 21 20 22 22
Territorial 19 209 219 244 268 287 276 258 277 298
Addenda:
Population (thousands)
1
20 64.8 65.1 62.4 55.5 55.9 56.3 56.7 57.1 57.4
Per capita real GDP (chained dollars) 21 11,219 10,876 10,865 12,270 12,218 11,599 11,146 11,226 11,289
2012 20132010
American Samoa
[Millions of chained (2009) dollars]
1. BEA estimates based on data from the American Samoa Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau.
2011 2014 2015
Table 1.2. Real Gross Domestic Product, Chained Dollars
20092007 2008
Line
- 6 -
Gross domestic product 1 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.2 1.3 1.1
Personal consumption expenditures 2 -2.4 -2.9 -4.3 -4.6 -2.0 3.1 0.9 -0.5
Goods 3 -1.9 -7.8 -4.6 -9.3 -2.6 10.3 1.0 -3.9
Durable goods 4 3.0 -12.7 0.9 -14.6 -5.7 26.9 15.5 -11.4
Nondurable goods 5 -2.5 -7.1 -5.4 -8.5 -2.2 8.0 -1.3 -2.5
Services 6 -2.3 2.5 -3.4 -0.9 -0.5 -1.3 1.1 1.4
Net foreign travel 7 …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. ……..
Private fixed investment 8 13.5 -15.9 30.9 5.2 -2.3 8.0 6.9 -6.2
Change in private inventories 9 …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. ……..
Net exports of goods and services 10 …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. ……..
Exports 11 -0.4 -21.4 -15.8 -11.8 4.7 -0.8 3.9 7.9
Goods 12 -0.6 -22.1 -16.8 -12.2 4.1 -0.5 3.9 8.5
Services 13 4.9 -0.2 5.4 -5.8 13.0 -6.0 4.0 -0.6
Imports 14 2.1 -12.9 -11.1 -6.9 4.1 3.0 10.7 3.8
Goods 15 1.9 -13.4 -11.4 -7.4 3.8 3.5 10.7 3.7
Services 16 3.5 -7.3 -8.0 -2.1 7.3 -2.5 11.6 4.4
Government consumption
expenditures and gross investment 17 5.4 15.0 5.6 6.6 -4.1 -6.4 7.7 7.0
Federal 18 12.3 49.5 -28.1 1.4 -5.6 -4.0 10.8 -1.3
Territorial 19 4.8 11.8 9.8 7.0 -4.0 -6.6 7.5 7.7
2009
Line
2015
American Samoa
Table 1.3. Percent Change From Preceding Year in Real Gross Domestic Product
[Percent]
2012 201420112010 20132008
- 7 -
Percent chan
g
e:
Gross domestic product 1 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.2 1.3 1.1
Percentage points:
Personal consumption expenditures 2 -1.78 -1.83 -2.84 -3.32 -1.37 2.05 0.67 -0.34
Goods 3 -0.69 -2.56 -1.50 -3.27 -0.81 3.01 0.35 -1.31
Durable goods 4 0.13 -0.54 0.03 -0.66 -0.21 0.94 0.72 -0.61
Nondurable goods 5 -0.82 -2.02 -1.54 -2.61 -0.59 2.07 -0.37 -0.70
Services 6 -0.83 0.81 -1.18 -0.36 -0.19 -0.47 0.42 0.53
Net foreign travel 7 -0.25 -0.08 -0.16 0.30 -0.38 -0.48 -0.10 0.43
Private fixed investment 8 0.99 -1.14 1.89 0.44 -0.19 0.67 0.66 -0.65
Change in private inventories 9 -0.98 0.90 0.43 0.35 0.48 0.86 4.10 -2.89
Net exports of goods and services 10 -2.99 -7.80 -1.70 -0.80 -0.97 -3.50 -7.93 1.13
Exports 11 -0.46 -22.11 -12.25 -7.65 2.96 -0.61 2.67 5.07
Goods 12 -0.62 -22.11 -12.43 -7.42 2.49 -0.37 2.51 5.10
Services 13 0.16 -0.01 0.18 -0.23 0.47 -0.24 0.16 -0.03
Imports 14 -2.53 14.31 10.55 6.86 -3.93 -2.89 -10.60 -3.94
Goods 15 -2.19 13.69 9.88 6.67 -3.33 -3.10 -9.58 -3.50
Services 16 -0.33 0.62 0.66 0.18 -0.60 0.21 -1.01 -0.44
Government consumption
expenditures and gross investment 17 2.21 5.67 2.58 3.58 -2.27 -3.26 3.84 3.81
Federal 18 0.40 1.58 -1.40 0.06 -0.21 -0.14 0.37 -0.05
Territorial 19 1.81 4.09 3.98 3.52 -2.06 -3.13 3.47 3.86
2010 20132011 2015
American Samoa
Table 1.4. Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product
20122008 2009 2014
Line
- 8 -
Gross domestic product 1 3.0 11.1 25.7 -15.4 -0.6 17.3 2.4 -1.5 -0.6
Personal consumption expenditures 2 4.0 8.9 0.8 5.4 7.8 4.7 2.0 0.4 -1.9
Gross domestic product 3 71.6 79.6 100.0 84.6 84.1 98.7 101.1 99.6 99.0
Personal consumption expenditures 4 91.1 99.2 100.0 105.
4
113.7 119.0 121.3 121.8 119.6
Gross domestic product 1 520 563 678 576 574 644 639 638 641
Compensation of employee
s
2 265 274 271 270 262 272 279 297 ……..
Taxes on production and imports
less subsidie
s
3 22 24 22 18 18 25 26 28 ……..
Gross operating surplus 4 233 265 385 288 294 347 334 313 ……..
NOTE. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
Percent change:
Revised 1 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.2 1.3
Previously publishe
d
2 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.0 1.6
Percentage points:
Revision 3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -0.2 -0.3
Line
20132009 2010 2011 2012
Line
2008
Line
201320102009 2012
2015
2015
2008 2009 20142007 20132010 2011 2012
2014
American Samoa
Table 1.5. Percent Change From Preceding Year in Prices for Gross Domestic Product
and Price Indexes for Gross Domestic Product
[Percent]
[Index numbers, 2009=100]
Table 1.6. Gross Domestic Income
[Millions of dollars]
Table 1.7. Revisions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product
201420112007 2008
- 9 -
2. GDP by Industry
Gross domestic product 1 520 563 678 576 574 644 639 638
Private industries 2 365 404 514 389 389 450 449 450
Manufacturing 3 77 112 163 41 21 89 93 76
Nonmanufacturing 4 288 291 351 348 368 361 356 374
Government 5 156 160 165 187 185 195 190 188
Federal 6 14 16 18 18 17 17 18 18
Territorial 7 142 144 146 169 168 177 172 170
Gross domestic product 1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Private industries 2 70 72 76 68 68 70 70 71
Manufacturing 3 15 20 24 7 4 14 15 12
Nonmanufacturing 4 55 52 52 60 64 56 56 59
Government 5 30 28 24 32 32 30 30 29
Federal 6 33333333
Territorial 7 27 26 22 29 29 27 27 27
2011
201120102009
Line
20132007 2008
Table 2.2. Value Added by Industry as a Percentage of GDP
[Percent]
2014
20132012
2012
2010
American Samoa
Table 2.1. Value Added by Industry
[Millions of dollars]
2014
NOTE. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
2007 2008 2009
Line
- 10 -
Gross domestic product 1 727 708 678 681 683 653 632 641
Private industries 2 568 544 514 501 514 474 462 478
Manufacturing 3 204 205 163 143 132 138 135 139
Nonmanufacturing 4 366 345 351 353 365 331 322 334
Government 5 163 166 165 177 170 176 168 162
Federal 6 14 17 18 17 16 16 17 16
Territorial 7 148 149 146 160 154 160 151 146
Gross domestic product 1 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.2 1.3
Private industries 2 -4.2 -5.5 -2.4 2.5 -7.7 -2.6 3.6
Manufacturing 3 0.4 -20.3 -12.3 -7.9 4.9 -2.0 2.7
Nonmanufacturing 4 -5.7 1.7 0.7 3.4 -9.3 -2.8 3.8
Government 5 1.7 -0.6 7.8 -4.2 3.4 -4.4 -3.7
Federal 6 14.7 10.7 -7.6 -4.4 -0.8 4.3 -5.0
Territorial 7 0.4 -1.8 9.7 -4.1 3.8 -5.3 -3.6
20132010 2011
Line
2007 2008 2009
2008 20132009
[Percent]
2014
American Samoa
Table 2.3. Real Value Added by Industry
[Millions of chained (2009) dollars]
2014
Table 2.4. Percent Changes in Real Value Added by Industry
2012
201220112010
Line
- 11 -
Percent chan
g
e:
Gross domestic product 1 -2.5 -4.2 0.4 0.3 -4.3 -3.2 1.3
Percentage points:
Private industries 2 -3.03 -4.14 -1.81 1.64 -5.34 -1.85 2.47
Manufacturing 3 0.07 -4.98 -2.21 -0.47 0.40 -0.29 0.35
Nonmanufacturing 4 -3.10 0.84 0.40 2.11 -5.74 -1.56 2.12
Governmen
t
5 0.48 -0.14 2.14 -1.38 1.02 -1.34 -1.14
Federal 6 0.38 0.28 -0.23 -0.14 -0.02 0.11 -0.14
Territorial 7 0.11 -0.42 2.37 -1.24 1.04 -1.45 -1.00
Total compensation
1 265 274 271 270 262 272 279 297
Private industries 2 125 131 125 97 97 103 107 120
Manufacturing 3 52 59 53 31 27 40 39 44
Nonmanufacturing 4 73 72 71 66 70 63 68 76
Governmen
t
5 140 143 147 173 164 169 171 178
Federal 6 13 16 18 17 17 17 17 17
Territorial 7 127 127 129 156 148 152 154 161
2012
NOTE. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.
Table 2.5. Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product by Industry
2011 2014
NOTE. Percentage-point contributions do not sum to the percent change in real gross domestic product because of
rounding and differences in source data used to estimate GDP by industry and the expenditures measure of real
GDP.
Table 2.6. Compensation of Employees by Industry
2013
Line
2013201120102008 2009
[Millions of dollars]
2014
Line
2007
2008 2009 20122010
American Samoa
- 12 -