Amidst starkly different portrayals of the state of the economy by the presidential candidates, here is a quick look at what the data tells us.
The latest National Income and Products Account report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of commerce shows that Gross Domestic Product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the U.S., grew at an annual rate of 1.1% in the second quarter of the year. This is well below the pace economists expected.
Analysis of this report by FocusEconomics tells us that this result was above the 0.8% increase in the first quarter of the year. “This marks the third consecutive quarter of near 1% growth as opposed to the historical long-term average of 3%,” says Lawrence Yun of the National Association of Realtors.
On a brighter note, job availability and income growth seem to be unaffected with the recent Employment Situation Report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that unemployment rate remained at 4.9% with a total of 151,000 jobs added in August. Hourly wages is slowly growing with a 2.4 percent increase over the past year. Also, a new report by the Census Bureau at the Department of Commerce shows that “Real Median household income increased 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2015. A first annual increase in median household income since 2007”
According to Economists at FocusEconomics, “the weakness in GDP growth in the second quarter highlighted what was a disappointing first half of 2016 for the U.S. economy. Nonetheless, many analysts believe that the economy will pick up momentum in the second half of the year, supported by strong growth in private consumption, an improvement in investment and a rebuilding of inventories.”
