G.D.P. growth accelerated in the first quarter.
Source: New York Times
The economy picked up speed last quarter, shaking off some of the lingering effects of the pandemic as consumer spending grew, bolstered by government stimulus checks and an easing of restrictions in many parts of the country. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the economy expanded 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021, compared with 1.1 percent in the final quarter last year.
On an annualized basis, the first-quarter growth rate was 6.4 percent. Were running on all cylinders in terms of economic activity, said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco. People are anxious to get out and return to their normal lives, and theres pent-up demand. It doesnt hurt that the stock market is at a record high and the housing market is strong, he added. Consumers have built up roughly $2 trillion in excess savings.
Overall economic activity should return to prepandemic levels in the current quarter, Mr. Anderson said, while cautioning that it will take until late 2022 for employment to regain the ground it lost as a result of the pandemic. Still, the labor market does seem to be catching up. Last month, employers added 916,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent. Tom Gimbel, chief executive of LaSalle Network, a recruiting and staffing firm in Chicago, said: Its the best job market Ive seen in 25 years. We have 50 percent more openings now than we did pre-Covid.
Hiring is stronger for junior to midlevel positions, he said, with strong demand for professionals in accounting, financing, marketing and sales, among other areas. Companies are building up their back-office support and supply chains, he said. I think were good for at least 18 months to two years.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/business/economy/united-states-gdp.html
I think we still have a ways to go.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,290 posts)I looked at Yahoo! Finance, but I didn't see anything there.
They have the initial unemployment claims. I'm waiting for a thread on that.
BEA 2118
Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2021 (Advance Estimate)
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021 (table 1), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2020, real GDP increased 4.3 percent.
The GDP estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see "Source Data for the Advance Estimate" on page 3). The "second" estimate for the first quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on May 27, 2021.
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BumRushDaShow
(128,418 posts)If anything, this last round of stimulus, although slightly narrowed for the caps, was more expansive in terms of the eligibility of demographics who were not previously eligible in the past stimulus outlays.