Monday, Oct. 28, 2024
Did corporate profits increase 75% in three years?
Corporate profits increased by double-digits in the past three years, though their share of national income has remained stable.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, who is running against Republican Eric Hovde in the Nov. 5, 2024 election, claimed that corporate profits increased 75% in three years.
Baldwin’s campaign cited a news report indicating a 75% increase over two years, from the second quarter of 2020 to Q2 of 2022.
Federal Reserve Bank, Harvard University and University of Wisconsin-Madison economists directed Wisconsin Watch to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis figures.
Currently, annualized corporate profits were $4.1 trillion as of Q2 2024 — 19% over three years ago (Q2 2021).
They were 91% higher than Q2 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corporate profits were 14.1% of national income in 2020, peaked at 16.8% in 2021 and dropped to 16.1% in 2023.
National income includes proprietors’ income and employee compensation.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- City Cast Madison U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin Makes Her Case to Wisconsin Voters
- Fox43.com Verifying Casey's corporate profit claims in latest ad
- Federal Reserve Bank Of St. Louis National income: Corporate profits before tax
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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