Many people are upset with the current state of the US economy, and many of them look to point blame at someone. However, there are many factors that go into the overall state of an economy. After Covid-19 was introduced in the US the GDP growth rate declined by 4.68% from 2019 to a state of -2.21% during 2020. Now, most recently the 2023 GDP growth rate was 2.54%, which was a 0.61% increase from 2022. This change was due to many factors which fluctuate a lot and add to the economy’s status.
(World Bank)
One important factor when looking at a country’s economy is inflation. The current annual inflation rate is 2.4%, this is a similar level seen back in February of 2021. Prices are 21.4% more expensive than before the Covid-19 pandemic. The average core inflation rate in 2021 was 3.6%, this number then rose to 6.2% in 2022 but decreased to 4.8% in 2023. Inflation has been far worse during the Biden administration, up 20.1% over the first 45 months of Biden’s term compared to 7.1% during Trump’s first 45 months, according to the government’s consumer price index.
The economy is also directly affected by the job market. Biden and Trump both had rather strong job markets. Since Biden took office, overall employment is up 12%, average pay is up 19% and unemployment is down from 6.7% to 4.1%. Under Trump’s administration the unemployment rate dropped to as low as 3.5% during 2019 and 2020 and had an increase of wages by 15% over his four-year term.
