Digital Economy Has Been Growing at Triple the Pace of U.S. GDP

(Bloomberg) -- If every U.S. industry could match the growth of the digital sector, the economy would be expanding at a much faster clip.

The digital economy has grown at an average annual rate of 5.6 percent in the 11 years through 2016, compared with 1.5 percent growth in the economy as a whole, according to a report Thursday by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The report showed the sector, which includes network infrastructure, e-commerce and digital media, accounted for $1.2 trillion, or 6.5 percent, of gross domestic product in 2016. The BEA said it was the first time it had released such data on the size and growth of the digital economy.

The digital economy supported 5.9 million jobs in 2016, the equivalent of 3.9 percent of total U.S. employment. That’s slightly less than finance and insurance. Employees in the digital economy earned on average $114,275 annually, more than 72 percent above average compensation per worker in the country.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shelly Hagan in Washington at shagan9@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Scott Lanman

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