This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Even as the Federal Reserve moves to raise interest rates for the first time in three years, many of the metrics that economists rely on to gauge the overall health of the economy—like jobs reports, the unemployment rate and the stock market—have looked relatively strong in recent months. Despite this, only about 24% of Americans rated the economy as "good" or "excellent" in a recent Pew Research Center survey.
According to Lonnie Golden, professor of economics and labor-human resources at Penn State Abington, this friction is due in part to a disconnect between messaging and the day-to-day lived experiences of many Americans. Golden is an expert on the well-being of work and workers, which often requires him to look at stories about the economy and labor market from a more nuanced perspective. Digging deeper into the specifics behind the most common economic metrics, he said, is often required to piece together a more complete image of the reality for many Americans.
In the following Q&A, Golden discussed the current economic landscape and how differences between politicians' rhetoric and people's perceptions on the ground can influence economic expectations. Overall, the economy is fairly healthy, by the numbers. We can give it 3.5 stars out of 5 based on the last month, particularly the strong August jobs report, with the September report pending.
It's probably more accurate to say it's been surprisingly resilient. There's a lot of chaos going on, both self-imposed and externally imposed. But labor market performance seems to be healthy despite these forces.
We've also seen the real gross domestic product growth rate go up by 1% or 2% recently. The labor productivity rate—a key metric for economists that measures how much output we get per worker per hour—has gone up a little bit as well over the last few years. It's not falling or even stagnant.
It's not, however, as strong as we would like it to be, because that's the underlying driving force for sustained economic growth in the long term. For a lot of folks, expectations play a role. Take inflation, for example.
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