The US has the most powerful, diverse, and technologically advanced economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $57,300 (2016), the largest among major industrial nations. The economy is market oriented with most decisions made by private individuals and business firms and with government purchases of goods and services made predominantly in the marketplace. In 1989 the economy enjoyed its seventh successive year of substantial growth, the longest in peacetime history.

The expansion featured moderation in wage and consumer price increases and a steady reduction in unemployment to 4.9% (2016) of the labor force. Earlier, in 1990, growth slowed to 1% because of a combination of factors, such as the worldwide increase in interest rates, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August, the subsequent spurt in oil prices, and a general decline in business and consumer confidence. In 1991, the situation worsened when output fell by 0.6%, unemployment grew, and signs of recovery proved premature. Growth picked up to 2.3% in 1992 and to 3.1% in 1993.

In 2009 growth dropped to a low of -5.1%, caused by the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession of 2007-2009. This was the greatest economic recession the United States had experienced since the Recession of 1945, and the effects continue to this day. Unemployment rose to nearly 10% in 2010, only dropping to 5% by 2016. Additionally, exponentially rising costs of college education in the U.S. have placed many young adults well below the poverty line with a failing job market, and the economy anticipates that the second economic collapse of the 21st Century will not be far away.

Gross national product: 17.08 billion (2017)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $18.56 trillion (2016)
National product real growth rate: 2.6% (2017)
National product per capita: $52,195 (2017)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.6% (2017)
Unemployment rate: 5% (2016)
Budget deficit: -2.6% GDP (2017)
Revenues: $3.3 trillion (2016)
Expenditures: $3.9 trillion (2016)
Exports: $1.289 trillion (2010)
Commodities: capital goods, automobiles, industrial supplies and raw materials, consumer goods, agricultural products
Trading Partners: The US is a global trader with global markets. Its main trading partners are Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, UK and Germany. (2011)
Imports: $1.935 trillion (2009)

Commodities: crude oil and refined petroleum products, machinery, automobiles, consumer goods, industrial raw materials, food and beverages

Industries: leading industrial power in the world, highly diversified and technologically advanced; petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining, defense

Agriculture: accounts for about 1% (2017) of GDP and 0.7% (2009) of labor force; favorable climate and soils support a wide variety of crops and livestock production; world’s second largest producer and number one exporter of grain; surplus food producer; fish catch of 5.5 million metric tons (2012)

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