Thursday, July 29, 2021

Q2 2021 GDP: goodbye recession, hasta la vista recovery, hello expansion

 

 - by New Deal democrat

Nominal GDP before inflation increased 3.1%, while real GDP for the 2nd Quarter increased 1.6%. The real annual rate of growth was thus 6.5%. Real GDP is now 0.8% higher than its last quarter before the onset of the pandemic:



The recession is over, as was declared by the NBER last week. In fact, so is the recovery, if one measures by GDP, since once all of the decline during the recession is made up, that qualifies for calling it an expansion.

Real income and spending are also at higher levels than at any point before the recession, while industrial production and - especially - employment have continued to lag.