Chad Schroeder
9/26/11
Current Economic Data
Each quarter of the business year the government releases its finding on many sets of data
including the current growth rate, unemployment rate, and inflation rate. Over the past month the
second quarter figures for these data sets are out.
On August 26, 2011 the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its findings on the growth rate
of the real gross domestic product. It stated that in the second quarter of 2011, the United States
real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.0 percent (Mataloni, 2011). This shows that
our economy is still growing, albeit slowly. The United States’ real gross domestic product has been
rising since the 1950’s with the occasional setback due to recessions, the most recent being the
recession that started in 2008. It seemed to have started to recover in late 2009 and early 2010 but
that recovery could be stalling with the low annual rates that have been seen this year.
On September 2, 2011 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its quarterly findings on the
current unemployment rate. It reported that from quarter 1, the quarter 2 unemployment rate held
constant at 9.1 percent ("The employment situation," 2011). In the past it can be seen that
unemployment rates have risen and fallen in line with recession and expansionary periods. What
might be unusual about the current unemployment is that the unemployment levels appear to be
taking longer to return from their high levels than in past recessions. This is in part due to much
economic uncertainty held by employers and it is hard to say when the economy will be strong
enough to pull these levels back down.
On September 15, 2011 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics its monthly Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers for the month of August. It reported that in the month of August the CPI-U
saw a 0.4 percent increase. The past 12 months have seen a 3.8 percent index increase total
("Consumer price index," 2011). From the 1990’s the CPI-U has risen steadily until recently where it
appears that it may be gaining some momentum since the spike in 2008.
References
Mataloni, L. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP. (2011). National income and product accounts
Retrieved from
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdpnewsrelease.htm
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2011). Consumer price index - august 2011 Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2011). The employment situation -- august 2011 Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
United States. Real Gross Domestic Product, 1 Decimal. 2011. Web.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GDPC1/
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Civilian Unemployment Rate. 2011. Web.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE?cid=12
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items. 2011. Web.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CPIAUCSL/