Current Economic Conditions and Selected Forecasts

Makinen, Gail E.

Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.

关键词: Economic policy;    Economic conditions - U.S.;    Economic forecasting;   

RP-ID  :  RL30329
RP-ID  :  RL30329_2006Jul28

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

U.S. real GDP growth has been positive for 18 consecutive quarters, and the economy is considered to be in an "expansion" phase. The rebound in payroll employment has been modest compared with past expansions. Other elements in the economic picture are promising: 1) A pick-up in output at the same time as employment is growing slowly means that productivity (or output per worker) is increasing; and 2) The inflation rate, measured by the CPI, rose 3.4% during 2005. The consensus among economists is that GDP will grow between 3.3% and 3.6% in 2006. The unemployment rate is expected to show little tendency to change. The inflation rate is expected to be higher than the rate that prevailed in 2005.