Digital Economy Accounted for 6.9 Percent of GDP in 2017

The digital economy accounted for 6.9 percent of the US gross domestic product, or $1.35 trillion, in 2017, according to a new batch of statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  How does that compare with traditional US industries? The digital economy ranked just below professional, scientific, and technical services, which accounted for 7.4 percent of GDP, and just above wholesale trade, with a 6.0 percent share.  New BEA data also show that:

• The digital economy supported 5.1 million jobs in 2017, which accounted for 3.3 percent of total US employment of 152.1 million jobs. The digital economy’s share of total employment is about same as the transportation and warehousing industry’s share. 
• Employees working in the digital economy earned $132,223 in average annual compensation in 2017, compared to $68,506 per worker for the total US economy.