The U.S. economy is getting better, but just how healthy is it, really?
Ambassador James Glassman, a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investor advisory committee who spoke at the Truck Renting and Leasing Association’s (TRALA) annual meeting Tuesday, categorized an economic health check as “good…but it could be a lot better.”
Rayola Dougher, American Petroleum Institute, speaking at the Truck Renting and Leasing Association’s annual meeting Tuesday while William Strauss, Chicago Federal Reserve, Ambassador James Glassman and Martin Regalia, U.S. Chamber of Commece, look on.Just more than a week ago the U.S. employment report showed 1.3 million net new jobs had been created in the previous four months.
Total net employment gain in the U.S. since 2007 has been 2 million new jobs but that lags well behind the growth of the U.S. population over the age of 16, which has increased by 18 million over the same time.
“If we wanted to keep up with the population growth, we would need to add 18 million jobs,” Glassman says. “It doesn’t feel that we’re going quite as fast as we should be going.”
“Yes, the U.S. economy is larger than it’s ever been but all in all, the growth rate that we experienced was 2.3 percent,” says William Strauss, Chicago Federal Reserve. “Output fell by over four percent. Yeah, we’re creating jobs, but we’re just barely over the (pre-recession) levels.”
The share of those unemployed for more than six months also remains significantly high at more than 30 percent.
| [gttable cols=”” width=”500″ class=”alignright”]Click the links below to read more on the economic health discussions that took place at TRALA this week:
Are we slowing our own economic growth? How long will sub-$100 per barrel oil last? Are winds of change blowing in Washington? What can and should get done before the next election? [/gttable] |
“We also have a lot of people getting hours that are well below what they desire,” Strauss says. “And where’s the wage gains?”
The nature of the U.S. economy is to grow and to grow consistently, Glassman says, adding the recession dropped the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth below its historical trend, and it has not yet climbed back to the trend line.
“That’s very unusual in American history,” he says. “GDP is really the single best indicator of the economy. On average the U.S. has grown 3.3 percent since 1947. Since the beginning of this century, it’s been 1.9 percent. We seem to be in a secular or long-term slowdown.”
