In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded 1870 and, one year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. Individually, these organizations were America's first...

Guest blog by Christine Heflin, Director of Performance Excellence, Deputy Performance Improvement Officer As America’s “Data Agency” and co-leader of the Data Goal in the President’s Management Agenda, the Department of Commerce is leading improvement in how federal agencies make data accessible and useful to the American public. With the launch of Commerce Performance Data Pro, seeing the...

Nondurable goods manufacturing; retail trade; and professional, scientific, and technical services were the leading contributors to the increase in U.S. economic growth in the third quarter of 2019, according to gross domestic product (GDP) by industry statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Both private services- and goods-producing industries contributed to the increase; the...

From natural disasters to critical incidents and everyday emergencies, first responders have experienced time and time again why communication is so crucial to their operations. Since its creation, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) has worked with first responders to understand what they need in a network and what technologies can support and enhance those efforts. The...

The U.S. Census Bureau is ramping up its national recruiting efforts to hire up to 500,000 temporary, part-time census takers for the 2020 Census in communities across the country to reach its goal of more than 2 million applicants. The positions offer competitive pay, flexible hours, paid training, and weekly paychecks. To determine the pay rate in a specific area, learn more about these...

As the nation prepares to ring in the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau projects the U.S. population will be 330,222,422 on Jan. 1, 2020. This represents an increase of 1,991,085, or 0.61%, from New Year’s Day 2019. Since Census Day (April 1) 2010, the population has grown by 21,476,884 or 6.96%. In January 2020, the United States is expected to experience one birth every eight seconds and one...

The Space Economy Satellite Account (SESA) is a new, collaborative effort to measure the relative importance of the space sector on the U.S. economy, with a special emphasis on the growing commercial space segment. This new account is part of the economic satellite accounts produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). A satellite account refers to statistics that complement BEA's official U...

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 2.1 percent in the third quarter of 2019, according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The growth rate was unrevised from the “second” estimate released in November. In the second quarter, real GDP rose 2.0 percent. GDP highlights The third-quarter increase in real GDP reflected increases in consumer spending, government...