In the States, they publish their figures a lot quicker than what we do.
Take GDP, for instance. Q2 GDP for the States was announced last Thursday. Ours will not be announced until early September.
Also, consider that the data points are widespread and run into huge numbers. As the information is collected, it becomes more robust. Last Thursday's figures for GDP, for example, were based on perhaps 80% of all sampling returns being collated. The next revision will take the certainty of this number to above 95%, and the final revision, to 100%.
In Australia, we wait much longer to publish our statistical data. Generally, by the time we do so, our data is out of date, and merely of historical interest (especially considering that it is published 2 months after the quarterly close, and uses information collected from earlier on in the quarter). Conversely, the US attempts to publish its data as close to real-time as is statistically possible.
