Critiquing the Us Economy

Critiquing the US Economy

ECO/372

2/12/14

Don Olsen

Critiquing the US Economy

When observing today’s Economy, It is fairly easy to see that there is an immense problem nestled in the heart of it. You don’t have to be an Economist to see most of these issues, which include high unemployment rates and slow economic growth. With these results, one can’t help but wonder. “What is going on?” Well there are several factors that are affecting our current Economic state, including our inability to improve our unemployment rate. Such factors have not only affected our expectations of the very country we live in, but also affected things such as Consumer Income, Interest rates and Aggregate demand and Supply.

In today’s workforce, there is a huge problem with job creation, and although the numbers are improving, the rate of improvement is not sufficient enough. According to a TIME Magazine Article on Business and Money, In order for the US to return to its level of employment prior to the recession, it would require for the creation of 300,000 new jobs per month. This rate would have to continue steadily through 2016. (Sivy, 2012) As of January 2014, The Bureau of labor Statistics reported that the total for nonfarm payroll employment increased by 113,000, averaging about 194,000 new jobs per month. (Employment Summary, 2014)

Although the conflict with unemployment remains unsolved, there are explanations for the deficiency in job growth. One of which derives directly from our less than average economic growth. After a Recession, there is normally a 9 to 18 month period in which growth is very high. One example is the recession that ended in 1981. The real GDP increased at a rate of 7% for more than a year. In comparison to our last recession, The US economy grew at a rate of 3.5%. The end result is that there has not been a steady stream of job creation to make up for the jobs that were lost during the last recession. (Sivy, 2012)

In addition to our slow...