Research >> Economics
Forecasters Hold the Line on Projections for Growth
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The outlook for growth in the U.S. economy over the next four years looks mostly unchanged from that of three months ago, according to 43 forecasters surveyed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The panel expects real GDP to grow at an annual rate of 3.0 percent this quarter and 3.1 percent next quarter. On an annual-average over annual-average basis, the forecasters see real GDP growing 2.1 percent in 2014, down from the previous estimate of 2.4 percent. The forecasters predict real GDP will grow 3.1 percent in 2015, 2.9 percent in 2016, and 2.8 percent in 2017.
Healthier conditions in the labor market accompany the nearly stable outlook for output growth. The forecasters predict the unemployment rate will be an annual average of 6.3 percent in 2014, before falling to 5.7 percent in 2015, 5.4 percent in 2016, and 5.3 percent in 2017. These projections are below those of the last survey.
The forecasters are also more optimistic about the employment outlook. They have revised upward their estimates of the growth in jobs in the next four quarters. The forecasters see nonfarm payroll employment growing at a rate of 228,600 jobs per month this quarter and 211,200 jobs per month next quarter. The forecasters' projections for the annual-average level of nonfarm payroll employment suggest job gains at a monthly rate of 204,800 in 2014 and 214,000 in 2015, as the table below shows.
Posted: August 15, 2014 Friday 10:00 AM