President Biden and top White House officials touted several positive facts about the US economy, including that employers are still hiring, unemployment is at 50-year lows and manufacturers are still investing.President Biden and top White House officials touted several positive facts about the US economy, including that employers are still hiring, unemployment is at 50-year lows and manufacturers are still investing.
While the second straight quarterly decline in GDP meets a standard shorthand definition of a recession, the White House, the Federal Reserve and many economists believe the broader conditions are not close to being met, given strong consumer spending and job markets. New Commerce Department data estimated that gross domestic product fell at a 0.9% annualized rate last quarter, after economists saw the figure ticking up by 0.5%.
On Thursday, Biden appeared to be on the verge of securing two economic policy victories in Congress. Biden got word of the chips bill’s final passage while he hosted a roundtable with business executives that was meant to tout the strong status of the American economy.Even during a meeting with participants selected by the White House, Biden heard a mixed picture of the US economy, however.
Administration officials have also been working to dissuade people from declaring a recession too soon to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy as businesses and consumers, concerned that tougher times are ahead, cut back on spending and investment plans.