By: Grant Cabay
A GDP, or the combined amount of dollars worth of all the goods in a country, is a main part of a country's economy. It gives details of how much money the country is worth, and can be used as a base stat for a measure of how well a country is doing. In America, before the Coronavirus, our GDP was at an all time high, and increasing at a 2.3% per year. Then, Coronavirus hit. America’s economy went down in humongous numbers, but they seem to be rising again. So the question is, is the American economy rising or falling?
First, we need to look at the exact numbers. In 2019, before the main hit of Coronavirus, the American GDP was about 21.43 trillion dollars, which was “an all time high” (United States GDP). The growth was increasing drastically, but then Coronavirus forced people to not spend money, and there were shutdowns around the country which didn’t allow companies or people to shop or produce. The American economy went down almost 9%, which was a very high decrease. A 9% decrease in the economy is called a recession, and it was the first since 2008. Thousands of jobs were lost, and the economy was falling.
Now, Coronavirus is receding and mandates are continued to be lowered. The American economy is recovering, but is the GDP rising again? Well, according to a website dedicated to researching the American GDP, in the past 3 months there has been an increase of over 1.3% (The Conference Board Economic Forecast for the US Economy). The website also predicts that the economy will continue to grow at higher rates because of the receding of Coronavirus. Although the GDP seems to be in an upward trend, anything could happen to bring it back down, like the Ukrainian-Russian war. So it is your choice. Is the American economy growing?