Overview of Bureau of Economic Analysis

As shown in the graph on the next page, the unemployment rate currently stands at

As of March, 2013 the U.S. National Unemployment rate was 7.6%. A total of 11.7 million people were reported as unemployed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate is improved from the height of the recent recession, where the statistic floated around 9%, but it is still not the usual 3-4% figure we are used to seeing in regular market conditions. (bls.gov, US, 2013)

The health of the current U.S. economy appears to be growing gradually. The second quarter real GDP growth was 3.7% and the unemployment rate declined to 5.3%. The U.S Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to raise interest rates in the near future when it sees clear signs of strong economic growth and improvements in the job market.

1. Analyze the current economic situation in the U.S. as compared to five (5) years ago. Include interest rates, inflation, and unemployment in your analysis.

In recent years, the economy in the United States has been in what most would see as a recession. American people differ in the way they react to a recession. Some, such as Michael Moore, feel it becomes a downward spiral as big business and it’s stockholders gain more money and power, and it’s workers gain less money and stability.

Today the United States Americans more than ever; there is a constant fear of an awaiting recession due to the economy. The recession in the later 2000’s has been known as the greatest economic decline since the Great Depression. The United States of America, the banks and businesses are not able to succeed and are failing due to the market. Many people across America cannot afford their homes or bills due to the unemployment rate that seems to keep increasing. Many people blame this on the higher oil or gas prices, and the wars that the United States acts on. The recession has overall declined our economic activity in business profits, employment, and investment. This is all due to our falling market, and the rise of prices that so many Americans cannot afford.

In this report, the Great Recession and the current economic down turn in the United States will be discussed. This report will cover the definition of both a recession and depression, and how these two differ from one another. The report will then detail two significant factors that were involved in the formation of the Great Recession. Finally, the report will discuss the differences and similarities between the Great Recession and other recessions that have taken place in recent U.S. history.

While there are expectations of a yearly gain of nearly 2.3 million net new jobs, the unemployment rate is still very high i.e. around 6.5 percent. The lower-than-expected job growth is fueled by various factors including government hiring, weather, and Obamacare. Actually, similar to December, January had a lower-than expected increase in job opportunities since only 113,000 jobs were created. However, the rate of unemployment still reduced to 6.6 percent in this month despite of the growth in labor force. The current rate of unemployment is the lowest in U.S. since the 2008 recession because more people are leaving the labor force instead of finding jobs.

In 2012 the unemployment rate was at a high rate of 8.1%, according to Marilyn Geewax on the website The Two Way. Geewax also claims, the unemployment rate in 2016 lessened to 4.9%. Jobs around America are always changing depending on the economy.¨The Broken Basic Bargain¨ focuses on how the economy has both its highs and its lows just like jobs do in ¨Mike Rowe: Learning From Dirty Jobs¨.

What is the state of the US economy? Has a cloud fallen on the US and harder economic times coming? Is continued decline require a cautious posture? “It's hard to decipher the state of the economy from headlines.” Although the economy is not equal to pre-recession times which was more than six years ago, the “jobs lost to the Great Recession have been replaced. Unemployment is down. The stock market has generally prospered.” What role does consumer

As of February of 2016, “the unemployment rate in America was recorded at 4.9 percent, unchanged from the January rate and remaining at its lowest

The 7 percent unemployment rate last month — down from its most recent peak of 10 percent in October 2009 — is the best reading since President Obama took office, providing one bright spot for a White House beleaguered on many other fronts. The unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in December 2008, the month before Mr. Obama was inaugurated.

The recession is said to have started in December of 2007 and officially ended in June of 2009 (Rich, 2013). What made the Great Recession notable from other previous economic downturns in the United States besides it length was the depth of the recession. The United States’ gross domestic product (GDP) fell 4.3 percent from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2007 to its trough in the second quarter of 2009 (Rich, 2014). In addition, the unemployment rate in the United States was around 4.6 percent in 2006 and 2007 and peaked at 9.6 percent just a few years later in 2010 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,

economic growth was increasing, and even through both have had slow growth even with the recession during 2008 to 2009 the U.S. average annual GDP growth rate during 2003 to 2012 close to 2 times that of Japan’s. In 1980 the overall real economic growth had been spectacular from an average of 4% and only averaging a 1.7% in 1990’s, with a big responsibility due to the inefficient investment and an asset price bubble in the late 1980s which caused firms to reduce excess debt, capital, and labor. See graph below for the growth rate from (1991-2014) both United States and

The unemployment rate in the United States has improved dramatically over the last two years, from a high of 8.3% in July 2012, to a low of 6.6% in January 2014. In October of 2012, the civilian labor force increased from 578,000 to 155.6 million, labor force participation increased up to 63.8%, and total employment overall rose by 410,000! Since then, the unemployment rate has been falling at a stable rate due to a political push from Washington DC and new employment initiatives. The inflation rate over the last 2 years has been relatively stably, with a few major increases and decreases in 2012 and 2013. It reached a high of 2.3% in June of 2012, and reached a low of 1.0% at the end of 2013. The federal interest rate has remained at a constant .25% over the past few years.