Fact of the Week: The Digital Economy Grew by 67 Percent Between 2006 and 2016

The digital economy grew by 67 percent in the decade following 2006, nearly 4 times faster than the total economy.

Source: “Defining and Measuring the Digital Economy,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, March 2018.

Commentary: Between 2006 and 2016, the U.S. economy grew at an anemic rate of 1.4 percent, due in large part to the 2007-09 recession. But new statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis highlight a bright spot, providing evidence that an outsized portion of overall growth has come from the digital economy, which grew at 5.2 percent annually. That compounded to 67 percent over the 10 years in question, which was four times faster than the rest of the economy. Two sectors of the digital economy more than doubled in size over the period—hardware and the combination of e-commerce and digital media—which grew at 10.8 and 7.9 percent, respectively.