The U.S. annual real GDP growth rate was 2.4 percent last year. It was unchanged from the year 2014 when it was 2.4 percent as well though an improvement over 2013 real GDP growth rate of 1.5 percent . This means the U.S. economy is doing well though it may not grow as fast in the near future as it did between 2013 and 2014. This is understandable because the economy had been struggling for a while since the financial crisis of the 2007, and once it started recovering there was more room for real GDP growth than it is now as it has already recovered to a significant degree.
The U.S. national unemployment rate was 4.9 percent last month, and the figures from the last few years show the unemployment rate has continued to decline. The comparable figures for the month of August in 2014 and 2013 were 5.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively . This is another evidence the economy has made significant recovery. The companies have been hiring now that the economy is in a better show and consumers’ demands for products and services has been growing.
The U.S. inflation rate was 1.06 percent last month which is still quite low though above the inflation rate of 0.2 percent in August 2015. The inflation rate in August 2014 was 1.7 percent . The inflation rate did rise between 2015 and 2016 but it remains quite low. This may explain why the Fed has not really raised the interest rates because the low inflation rate means the economy is not heating up yet. When the inflation rate is high, there is an incentive to raise the interest rate to curb demand for goods and services and help bring down the inflation.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. 29 September 2016
- Inflation Data. What is the Current Inflation Rate? 16 September 2016. 29 September 2016
- Statista. Real GDP growth of the United States from 1990 to 2015 . 29 September 2016
