OECD Economic Surveys: United States
Report

OECD Economic Surveys: United States

June 2014, Overview

OECD
OECD, 2014
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Comprehensive

Recommendation

In this timely, comprehensive report, the OECD considers America’s recent economic progress, the obstacles it faces and the ways it can improve. The study finds that the US economy is progressing, showing hard-won gains after the bruising recession. Manufacturing expansion, a turnaround in employment, a healthier financial sector, a more stable housing market, and lower energy prices due in part to hydraulic fracturing and energy renewables are all good news, but much remains undone. The United States must address the human toll of the recession: a growing income gap, fewer jobs, rising education and health care expenses, paltry increases in real wages, and increasing stresses on people’s work life and family life. getAbstract commends this review to public policy professionals, economists, market strategists and investors for its candid assessment of America’s long road ahead.

Summary

From Beneath the Rubble

The recession that began in late 2007 and lasted through 2008 and 2009 was relatively short-lived, but of such magnitude that it knocked many Americans off their feet. It was the brutal outcome of increasingly looser economic and fiscal policies and of a seemingly inexorable trend toward greater deregulation. The social and economic costs of the financial crisis and its resulting downturn were staggering: a tough economic period featuring high unemployment, rampant foreclosures and persistent business failures.

Nonetheless, America’s recovery has begun to take shape, though quite unevenly. The greatest gains have gone to the wealthiest, while advancement appears increasingly illusive for the middle and lower classes. Real wage growth is stagnant for millions. Achieving a widely shared decent quality of life remains a challenge for the nation, now “a country with among the highest levels of income inequality in the OECD.” The US workforce is becoming increasingly drained as job responsibilities and longer working hours impinge on family time.

Against this backdrop, the US has nonetheless staged a fairly good economic turnaround with the...

About the Author

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an international forum of 34 nations that promotes global economic advancement and trade.

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