Transportation Value Added is a measure of the contribution of the transportation sector to gross domestic product (GDP) based on the difference between the value of the transportation services sold and the goods and services used to produce transportation. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) considers industry value added to be a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP..

The value of transportation sector outputs is estimated using data on the sales of transportation sector services to other parts of the economy. That shows what other parts of the economy are willing to pay for those services. In turn the transportation sector purchased inputs, such as fuel and equipment, are valued based on what the transportation sector pays for them. The difference is the value added by the transportation sector, which is the transportation sector’s contribution to GDP.

The contribution of the inputs to transportation includes the value added by the sector that produces them. For example, the contribution of the fuel purchased by for-hire carriers is included in the value added by the energy sector, which produced the fuel. It would be double counting the value added by fuel, if fuel purchased by for-hire transportation was not subtracted from the value added by transportation. Examples of other excluded inputs are equipment, spare parts, lubricants, and other materials.

This approach enables BEA to compute total GDP as the sum of the contributions of all sectors of the economy.