OECD Economic Surveys: United States 2018

Abstract

The Survey is published on the responsibility of the Economic and Development Review Committee, which is charged with the examination of the economic situation of member countries. The economic situation and policies of the United States were reviewed by the Committee on 18 May 2018. The draft was revised in the light of the discussion and given final approval as the agreed report of the whole Committee on 31 May 2018.

This Survey was prepared in the Economics Department by Douglas Sutherland under the supervision of Patrick Lenain. Damien Azzopardi provided the statistical research assistance and Stephanie Henry provided editorial support. The Survey also benefited from contributions by Julien Daubanes, Ola Eltoukhi, Octavio Escobar, Fozan Fareed, Aimi Abdul Ghani, Stephanie Guichard, Nirosha Varghese and Pierre-Yves Yanni.

The previous Survey of the United States was issued in June 2016.

Information on other Surveys and how surveys are prepared is available at www.oecd.org/surveys.

Basic statistics of United States

(Data refer to 2017 or latest available. Numbers in parentheses refer to the OECD average)*

LAND, PEOPLE AND ELECTORAL CYCLE
Population (million)	323.13		Population density per km²	35.3	(37.5)
Under 15 (%)	19.0	(18.0)	Life expectancy (years)	78.8	(80.7)
Over 65 (%)	15.0	(16.5)	Men	76.3	(78.1)
Foreign-born (%)	13.5		Women	81.2	(83.3)
Latest 5-year average growth (%)	0.7	(0.6)	Latest general election	November 2016
ECONOMY
Gross domestic product (GDP)			Value added shares (%)
In current prices (billion USD)	19,390.6		Primary sector	0.9	(2.4)
Latest 5-year average real growth (%)	2.2	(2.1)	Industry including construction	19.1	(26.7)
Per capita (000 USD PPP)	59.5	(43.8)	Services	80.0	(70.9)
GENERAL GOVERNMENT Per cent of GDP
Expenditure	37.7	(40.6)	Gross financial debt	105.4	(110.2)
Revenue	34.1	(37.7)	Net financial debt	80.3	(71.2)
EXTERNAL ACCOUNTS
Exchange rate EUR per USD	0.9		Main exports (% of total merchandise exports)
PPP exchange rate (USA = 1)	1.0		Machinery and transport equipment	34.9
In per cent of GDP			Chemicals and related products, n.e.s.	13.6
Exports of goods and services	12.1	(29.1)	Commodities and transactions, n.e.s.	12.5
Imports of goods and services	15.0	(28.8)	Main imports (% of total merchandise imports)
Current account balance	-2.40	(0.34)	Machinery and transport equipment	43.2
Net international investment position	-40.5		Miscellaneous manufactured articles	16.9
			Manufactured goods	10.8
LABOUR MARKET, SKILLS AND INNOVATION
Employment rate for 15-64 year-olds (%)	69.4	(67.0)	Unemployment rate, Labour Force Survey (age 15 and over) (%)	4.9	(6.5)
Men	74.8	(74.8)	Youth (age 15-24, %)	10.4	(12.9)
Women	64.0	(59.4)	Long-term unemployed (1 year and over, %)	0.8	(2.0)
Participation rate for 15-64 year-olds (%)	73.0	(71.7)	Tertiary educational attainment 25-64 year-olds (%)	45.7	(35.7)
Average hours worked per year	1 783	(1763)	Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (% of GDP)	2.7	(2.3)
ENVIRONMENT
Total primary energy supply per capita (toe)	6.7	(4.1)	CO2 emissions from fuel combustion per capita (tonnes)	15.5	(9.2)
Renewables (%)	7.1	(9.7)	Water abstractions per capita (m3 )	1582	(804)
Fine particulate matter concentration (PM2.5, μg/m3)	9.2	(14.9)	Municipal waste per capita (kilogrammes)	738	(523)
SOCIETY
Income inequality (Gini coefficient)	0.39	(0.32)	Education outcomes (PISA score, 2015)
Relative poverty rate (%)	16.8	(11.6)	Reading	497	(493)
Median disposable household income (000 USD PPP)	32.1	(23.0)	Mathematics	470	(490)
Public and private spending (% of GDP)			Science	496	(493)
Health care, current expenditure	17.2	(9.1)	Share of women in parliament (%)	19.2	(28.7)
Pensions	7.0	(9.1)	Net official development assistance (% of GNI)	0.18	(0.39)
Education (primary, secondary, post sec. non tertiary)	3.6	(3.6)

Better life index: www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org

* Where the OECD aggregate is not provided in the source database, a simple OECD average of latest available data is calculated where data exist for at least 29 member countries.

Source: Calculations based on data extracted from the databases of the following organisations: OECD, International Energy Agency, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Inter-Parliamentary Union, BEA.