Thanks to the economy being on a war footing, unemployment was incredibly low - coming in below the 5% most economists consider to be full employment.
Total non-farm employment grew by over 1 million jobs during the year.
However, despite the need for durable goods, total goods producing actually added less than 200,000 total jobs during the year.
The real job gains occurred in the service industries, which saw about 900,000 jobs added, and
government employment, which saw large increases (around 300,00).
Thanks to near full employment, disposable personal income increased:
On a continuously compounded annual rate of change basis,we see a slight gain in the first quarter, a big gain in the second and then more moderate increases in the third and fourth.
And on a percentage change from the previous year, we see strong increases in the second, third and fourth quarter.
The following charts are from the 1951 Economic Report to the President, and are included because I think they're really interesting.
