For Immediate Release: July 29, 2011
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

Today’s Bureau of Economic Analysis report shows that the last six months have seen an average growth rate of less than 1%, a rate of growth that fully explains why the previously declining unemployment rate reversed course in the past six months.

After hitting a low of 8.8% earlier in 2011, the unemployment rate in June reached 9.2%. Today’s GDP Picture explains why: because of the lack of spending, growth has markedly decelerated in 2011. While the economy is not in recession, a growth rate of 0.9% (the average for the first half of 2011), if sustained for the entire year, would result in an unemployment rate rising by almost a full percentage point over that time, all else equal.

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