GDP and Personal Salaries Increase in Third Quarter as the Unemployment Rate Remains Near 50-Year Lows

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased at a “rate of 1.9 percent” and “salaries increased 0.9 percent” in the third quarter of 2019. The third quarter GDP increase is a result of a few factors, including consumer spending, which “increased $24.3 billion” in September. Consumer spending follows the third quarter personal salaries increase and a $50.2 billion increase in personal income for September. $12.1 billion of September’s personal income total stemmed from “the Department of Agriculture’s Market Facilitation Program” that funds “American agricultural producers while the [Trump] Administration continues to work on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals.”

In response to third quarter GDP and other economic indicators, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “decided to lower the interest rates for the third time this year.” Chairman Powell says the “economy is growing at a moderate rate… supported by a healthy job market, rising incomes, and solid consumer confidence.” The unemployment rate has also “been near half-century lows for a year and a half”, and Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released today, show the unemployment rate remains low “at 3.6 percent”.