Within the past few weeks there have been some very encouraging reports pertaining to the economy's health.

Real gross domestic product (RGDP) is the most common measure of economic activity. GDP is the market value of all the goods and services manufactured in the country. RGDP is adjusted for inflation. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported on October 28th that its estimated annual growth rate for third quarter growth in the US economy equals 2.9%. This is up from a rate of 1.4% in the second quarter. Visit BEA GDP to read the full report.

The BEA has also reported that personal income increased by $46.3 billion in September. This is a 0.3% increase. Furthermore, workers have been able to keep most of the gain because disposable personal income also increased 0.3%, or $37 billion. All of the gains have been spent by consumers. Consumer spending increased 0.5% or $61 billion during the same period. For a full report visit BEA Personal Income.

The employment picture also brightened. First, 161,000 jobs were added to non-farm payrolls in October. This helped push the unemployment rate down slightly from 5.0% to 4.9%. The professions that showed the greatest gain included: health care, professional business services, and financial activities. For a full report visit the BLS Employment.

Inflation continues to be tame, but the 1.5% jump in the consumer price index for the past 12 months is the highest in two years. In September alone, the index increased 0.3%. This is largely because energy prices increased 2.9%. It is interesting to note that the core price index, which excludes energy and food costs decreased between August and September from 0.3% to 0.1%. To read the full report released on October 18th visit Bureau of Labor Statistics - Inflation. To learn more about inflation we encourage you to visit our lesson at Inflation. Our free lesson includes text, a video, interactive exercises, review questions, and a Scripture lesson.