The Amazonification of the U.S. Economy: Data Hosting, Warehousing, Courier Services Explode Higher

Call it the Amazonification of the U.S. economy.

The fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy over the course of the pandemic have been courier services, data processing and hosting, warehousing, and trucking, the Commerce Department’s quarterly report on the services sector showed Thursday.

These are, of course, the areas of the economy associated with the shift in services spending toward online retail, of which Amazon is by far the biggest online retailer and a giant in data hosting through its Amazon Web Services arm.

Courier services revenue grew 38.1 percent between the second quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2021. Data processing and hosting grew 38 percent. Warehousing revenue grew 34 percent. Trucking revenue grew 22 percent.

Comparing the second quarter of 2019 with the second quarter of 2021 allows for analysis of the pre-pandemic period to the most recently completed figure. Because the data are seasonally adjusted, however, similar results show up if the most recent quarter is compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.

In comparison with the fourth quarter of 2019, the last full quarter with no pandemic effect, courier services are still the leader at 31.9 percent. Data processing is up 26.4 percent. Trucking is up 26.5 percent. Warehousing is up 20 percent.

Many of these services are still growing rapidly. Data processing and hosting rose 7.7 percent in the April through June period compared with the first three months of the year.  Courier services sales grew 4.2 percent. Warehousing grew 4.5 percent.  Trucking grew 13.6 percent.

By contrast, other areas of the economy continue to languish. Revenue for motion pictures and recorded music are down 17.9 percent from the spring of 2019. Hotels and motel revenue are down 14 percent. Revenue in the category of arts, entertainment, and recreation is 18.4 percent. Air travel revenue have fallen 31.5 percent.

But these are recovering. Air travel revenue grew 48.7 percent on a quarterly basis. Accommodations revenue was up 47.8 percent. Arts and entertainment rose 22.6 percent.