Covid Can’t Stop Corporate Profits From Climbing to Record Highs

U.S. corporations pulled in more profits in the three months ended in September than ever before. Not just in dollar terms—something that happens frequently—but as a share of the economy. According to initial estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, third-quarter after-tax corporate profits from current production amounted to 11% of gross domestic product. The previous record of 10.7% was set in the second quarter of this year; before that the all-time high was 10.6%, in the first quarter of 2012.

How high did they get before that? In the quarterly data, which go back to 1947, after-tax profits never topped 9% of GDP before 2010. In annual data they did reach 9.1% in 1929. That ill-starred precedent has at times raised concerns that high profit shares are unsustainable, a sign of an economy tilted too far in favor of corporations and their shareholders.