Now officially in its seventh year, the economic recovery is the weakest of all the post-World War II recoveries.
Since the recession ended in June 2009, the growth in the real gross domestic product has averaged 2 percent, versus an average of 4.3 percent over the previous 10 economic expansions, as noted by a new Congressional Research Service report.
The U.S. has done a lot better in other measures since the end of the recession amid the continued fallout of the financial crisis. The unemployment rate, for instance, has fallen from 9.4 percent to 4.7 percent.
Furthermore, the U.S. has gone a long time without a recession. The current expansion is the fourth longest since the 1850s, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
But over that long period of time, the economy has never bounced back in the way that might have been expected based on historical experience.
“Based on previous experience with severe recessions, some anticipated that the economy would grow at an above-average pace once the economy emerged from the 2007-2009 recession,” the Congressional Research Service report noted. “However, in spite of the severe nature of the most recent recession, the anticipated catch-up growth has yet to materialize.”
The reasons for the slow recovery have been hotly debated, with Republicans placing particular blame on President Obama’s economic policies.
The Congressional Research Service, which provides research at the request of members of Congress, noted a few possible explanations that don’t involve bad policy. One is that recoveries that follow financial crises are especially weak, and another is that the long-term joblessness suffered by so many people caused their skills to erode. A third is the “secular stagnation” thesis advanced by former Obama economic adviser Larry Summers, which posits that the country may be suffering a long-term lack of demand for goods and services for reasons that might not be solved merely with the passage of time.
