U.S. News --- THE OUTLOOK: Economy Poised for 2013 Gain
As 2012 comes to a close, the U.S. economy is also turning a page: The recovery is over. It looks like 2013 will be the start of a more normal, though hardly robust, period of growth.</br></br>For Americans struggling in the still-slow economy, that is both good news and bad. The risk of another recession is diminishing, at least if leaders in Washington can steer clear of the "fiscal cliff." But so are the prospects for a period of rapid growth that brings down the unemployment rate and helps the economy make up the ground lost in the recession.</br></br>Technically, the recovery ended in late 2011 when economic output, adjusted for inflation, returned to its prerecession peak. But on a per-capita basis, gross domestic product still hasn't rebounded to its 2007 high, and by most other measures the economy has remained mired in its postrecession doldrums. For more than three years after the recession ended in June 2009, unemployment remained high, the housing market was depressed, and every economic speed bump brought renewed fears of another recession.</br></br>That is poised to change in 2013. Home prices are finally rising again in much of the country, and construction activity is slowly picking up. Job growth has stabilized at about 150,000 jobs per month, and unemployment, though still elevated, dropped below 8% in September and has continued to fall. If current trends continue, per capita output will surpass its prior peak sometime next year.</br></br>The economy is far from fully healed. The combined net worth of U.S. households remains 12% below its pre-recession peak, after adjusting for inflation.