U.S. economy declined in 2nd quarter by largest margin ever

July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy had its worst second-quarter performance in history this year, government figures showed Thursday.

The Commerce Department issued its quarterly report, which showed U.S. gross domestic product contracted by about 33%, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decline is the worst ever in the United States for the April-June period, but wasn't as steep as some economists predicted.

The department's report said there were sharp declines in personal consumption, exports, investment and local government spending.

GDP is calculated by tallying the total number of all goods and services produced during the three-month period.

Thursday's report was the Commerce Department's first estimate of second-quarter performance. It will release the next estimate on Aug. 27.

Also Thursday, the Labor Department reported that another 1.4 million U.S. workers filed for new unemployment benefits last week.