Newsroom

Statement From Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in 2009

Submitted on September 16, 2010 - 10:00am
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An earlier version of this statement incorrectly reported that "the poverty rate would have been 14.8 percent instead of 14.3 percent in the absence of the Recovery Act. The correct statement is: "the poverty rate would have been 14.5 percent instead of 14.3 percent in the absence of the Recovery Act."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Commerce Department's U.S. Census Bureau today released data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage in 2009.

Under Secretary Blank Presents Report on Drilling Moratorium to Senate Small Business Committee

Submitted on September 15, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, D.C. – Under Secretary Blank testified before the Senate Small Business Committee on the economic impact of the deep water oil drilling moratorium.  At that hearing, she presented the interagency report that laid out estimates of employment losses resulting from the moratorium. 

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Statement from Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on the Second Estimate of Gross Domestic Product in the Second Quarter 2010

Submitted on August 27, 2010 - 8:30am
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The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released the second estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2010. Growth in real GDP was lowered to 1.6 percent at an annual rate from the advance estimate of 2.4 percent. Most private-sector analysts had expected a revision to 1.4 percent in the second quarter. The downward revision reflected a wider trade deficit and lower inventories than were originally reported.

Statement from Commerce Under Secretary Rebecca Blank on Personal Income and Outlays in June 2010

Submitted on August 2, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis today released personal income and outlays for June 2010. Personal income remained unchanged in June, and real disposable income increased 0.2 percent.  Real personal consumption expenditures increased 0.1 percent in June and at a 1.6-percent annual rate in the second quarter.

“Employment in private industry is growing at a modest pace, and this growth is helping to raise incomes among American families,” said U.S. Commerce Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Rebecca Blank. “Healthy consumer spending goes hand-in-hand with income and job growth, and the administration remains focused on boosting employment to ensure every American who wants a job can get one.”

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Blank Named Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow By American Academy of Political and Social Science

Submitted on May 12, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, DC- Under Secretary Blank was inducted as an Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow by the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The event was held at the Newseum in Washington, DC. In appointing its first set of Fellows in 2000, the Academy sought to recognize and honor individual social scientists for their distinguished scholarship in the social sciences, sustained efforts to communicate that scholarship to audiences beyond their own discipline, and professional activities that promise to continue to promote the progress of the social sciences. Each Fellow is designated to a position named after a distinguished scholar and public servant.

New Commerce Department Reports Lay Foundation for Measuring Green Economy, Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Submitted on May 10, 2010 - 3:35pm
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Washington, DC - The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration today released two new reports: one that defines and measures the size and scope of the green economy and another that looks at the ways in which the American economy's greenhouse gas emissions have changed over the past decade. Together, they provide valuable analytic tools needed to understand the emerging green economy, quantify greenhouse gas emissions and help inform future policy decisions.

Report on Gross Domestic Product Statistics for Four U.S. Territories Released

Submitted on May 4, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, DC—The U.S. Department of Commerce released newly-developed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics for American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The statistics are a product of a joint effort of the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs. Policy makers will now have an objective view of the size of these economies, their growth or contraction, and their major components in order to conduct economic-impact analysis on the effects of local and national policy decisions. (More)

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Commerce Issues Report on Role of Patent Reform in Supporting Innovation and Job Creation

Submitted on April 19, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Reforming America’s patent system will accelerate economic growth and job creation, and expand America’s ability to innovate, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The paper, titled “Patent Reform—Unleashing Innovation, Promoting Economic Growth and Producing High-Paying Jobs,” was authored by the Commerce Department’s Chief Economist Mark Doms, the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Chief Economist Stuart Graham and USPTO’s Administrator for External Affairs Arti Rai.

New Commerce Report Shows Growing Exports Key to Job Creation

Submitted on April 14, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, DC – A U.S. Department of Commerce report released today confirms the importance of exports to the U.S. economy and the increasingly globalized marketplace. According to Exports Support American Jobs, in 2008, exports accounted for a record 12.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), and during a period of relatively flat job growth across the economy, supported a record number of jobs – more than 10 million.

Working for Change Policy Forum Features Under Secretary Blank

Submitted on March 18, 2010 - 11:00pm
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Washington, DC – Under Secretary Blank was a featured speaker and panelist at the “Working for Change” poverty policy forum on Capitol Hill.  Blank said, “the new Supplemental Poverty Measure will provide an alternative lens to understand poverty and measure the effects of anti-poverty policies.”  The forum presented information to congressional staffers and other organizations about how poverty is defined, and the new poverty measure that is being implemented in New York.  The “Working for Change” policy forum is sponsored by the Community Service Society (CSS) which is a nonprofit organization that has been fighting poverty in New York for over 160 years.  In recent years, their work has focused on using work and employment opportu