Recession, Gdp | featured news

Growth at or below 2% isn't enough to lower the unemployment rate. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent from April through June, as Americans cut back sharply on spending. The slowdown in growth adds to worries that the economy could be stalling three years after the recession ended.

The U.S. economy grew at a modest 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year, the fastest growth in 2011. Americans spent more on cars and trucks, and companies built up their stockpiles. But growth in the October-December quarter — and all of 2011 — was held back by the biggest annual government spending cuts in four decades. The Commerce Department says the economy grew just 1.7 percent last year, roughly half of the growth in 2010 and the worst since the recession.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5% in the three months ending Sept. 30, the government reported, easing fears that the nation would fall into a second recession but still too slow a pace to cut significantly into the high unemployment rate.

The gross domestic product number came in at a rather soft 2% growth, up slightly from last quarter’s 1.7%. From the standpoint of creating new jobs, 2% just doesn’t cut it. We need about 100,000 to 125,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with population growth and a 2% GDP will not give us half that, as we saw last quarter. Most economists say you need about 3.5% GDP growth to get solid job reports.

Second-quarter economic growth was revised to an anemic 1.6%, a decline that was slightly less than many economists had predicted. But the report was a sobering cap to a week of bad economic news that has raised fears the nation could plunge into another recession.

The government reported that output of goods and services grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, which was faster than expected. But it will be months before job-seekers feel the benefits.

The economy sank at a pace of 0.7 percent in the spring, a better-than-expected performance that provided more evidence that the recession was ending.

The recession likely eased in the spring, with the U.S. economy no longer in free-fall. Many analysts predict that when the Commerce Department releases its first estimate of second-quarter activity Friday, it will say the economy shrank at a 1.5 percent pace from April though June. If they are correct, it would mark a vast improvement from the 5.9 percent annualized drop recorded over the prior six months – the weakest showing in 50 years.

The economy’s decline in the quarter was not quite as bad as the government originally believed, kindling hope that the economy could resume growing by the end of 2009.

The government reported that gross domestic product shrank at a 6.1 percent annual rate, worse than economists expected, dampening hopes that the slowdown was easing.