In normal times, a 3.2 percent GDP growth rate for the United States is good. In the 1980’s the U.S. suffered another severe recession. During that recovery, GDP grew at a 7 to a 9 percent rate for more than one year. A 3.2 percent GDP annual growth rate barely creates enough jobs to keep up with the expanding population. It does nothing for all those who lost their jobs and are looking for work. The U.S. unemployment rate is 9.7 percent and the underemployment rate, a more accurate measure of the true unemployment situation is running at the 16.5% level.
What can we learn from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report on the GDP growth rate that might be helpful to investors?
Jobless growth
“Okun’s rule of thumb” points toward an economy that must grow at the 3.0 – 3.5 percent level to maintain current employment levels. If the U.S. economy was operating at full employment status, a 3.0-3.5 percent growth rate works just fine. The problem is the U.S. has 9.7% unemployment and 16.5% underemployment. We will get another look at the employment situation when the Bureau of Labor statistics (BLS) releases the number for April on May 7, 2010.
The chart below from the BLS report for March 2010 shows that the total employment for the U.S. is back where it was at the end of the recession that ended in January 2003. If the U.S. GDP only achieves growth at 3.0 to 3.5 percent growth rate, the level of employment will only cover the expansion of the population, leaving 7.5 million still unemployed. This does not count those people who are working part time or in jobs that pay less than their skills, the underemployed.
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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment in total non farm
All sectors of the economy are experiencing negative growth or slight up ticks. However, employment in the federal government continues to expand as shown in the chart