The U.S. Commerce Department reported that the GDP for the second quarter (April-June) grew at a solid 6.5% annual rate and that the total size of the economy has now surpassed its pre pandemic level. That adds to the first quarter GDP that was 6.3%. Those numbers are a reminder that for the year 2020 the GDP contracted at a -3.4% rate. So the nations economic well being has improved for the first 6 months of the current year.
The Commerce Department also reported that (1) Consumer spending and business investment surged in the quarter. (2) Underpinning the recovery have been trillions in federal money and that consumers will continue to spend. (That GDP for the year 2021 should grow at a robust pace of 6.5%. The numbers tell us the Biden Administration has done a good job with the economy so far and it is now important for the administration infrastructure plan to become law with his parallel American Rescue Plan to keep the economy and jobs moving forward for the long term It is even more important now because of the threat of another shutdown due to another virus outbreak.
As a nation we can not afford to sit back on what has been accomplished over the first 6 months of 2021. There is more that has to be done and the President is right to keep his focus on the long term health of the economic recovery and do what is necessary to sustain economic growth.
In a separate report the U.S. Labor Department reported that wages and salaries of workers in the private sector increased 1% in the second quarter to go along with the 1.1% increase in the first quarter. It was the second largest increase in over a decade. The 2.1% increase in wages and salaries for the first half of 2021 was higher than the 1.4% increase in the second half of 2020.
And once again it is a democratic administration that is moving America forward out of the economic recession that began in February 2020. And for those who follow the facts, it was predictable.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
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