“It turns out it’s easier to put an economy into a coma than wake it up," one economist says.
With government relief checks and the accelerating vaccine rollout, "there is finally real light at the end of the tunnel."
Still, 82% of NABE panelists forecast real U.S. GDP would return to pre-pandemic recession levels sometime this year.
The $1.9 trillion relief bill was passed by the House over the weekend.
“This reminds us that the economic crisis has not gone away, far from it, at a time when multiple crises have been vying for our attention.”
The December jobs report shows "the economy’s not just tapping on the brakes, but actually has been thrown into reverse."
“We're only half dug out of our hole, and each month's pace of jobs growth has been slower than the last since July."
“The pace of jobs recovery apparent in today’s report suggests that we will be counting the employment recovery in years, not months or quarters."
Overall, at least 77% of adults said they were at least “doing OK” in July, up from 72% in April.
The slowing job growth is “a warning that the recovery could go into reverse this fall without further government support.”
"The downturn was so big — the hole that was dug was so deep — that it will still take probably at least a couple of years to dig ourselves out."
“Firms anticipate holding their employment levels roughly constant over the second half of 2020 and then ramping up hiring in 2021.”
