A Ball State University report calls the nation’s performance in 2016 “disappointing,” noting that economic growth, which was widely forecast to near 3 percent, is unlikely to exceed 1.5 percent for the year.
“2017 Economic Forecast for United States & Indiana,” an analysis based on the Indiana Econometric Model developed by Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), was released Dec. 5 at the 21st annual Economic Outlook event
“The better-than-average third quarter GDP estimates of 2.9 percent are both low by historical standards and likely to be revised downward in coming months,” said CBER director Michael Hicks. “The United States is clearly in the midst of a low-growth period from which there is no obvious relief on the horizon.”
Hicks also noted that while job growth has pushed the unemployment rate to 4.9 percent — at or near full employment — wage gains have been modest.
Also, long-term unemployment remains much higher, and alternative measures of labor market performance imply slack in the labor force around much of the nation.
“In short, 2016 exemplifies the slower growth that has marked the U.S. economy in the years following the Great Recession,” he said.
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