Since the Great Recession ended almost exactly seven years ago, metrics like job creation, unemployment rates, and consumer confidence are back to their pre-recession levels.
MarketWatch’s Jeffry Bartash gathered economic data from today, the end of the recession (July 2009), and the first month of the recession (December 2007). He said that the U.S. has regained lost ground but is still on shaky ground.
While the unemployment rate (4.7 percent) is lower than it was in both July 2009 (9.5 percent) and December 2007 (5.0 percent), the U6 rate, which includes underemployed non-full-time workers, remains elevated. It currently sits at 9.7 percent.
Also, consumer spending isn’t quite at the same level as it was pre-recession because wages are growing more slowly today.
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