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Extracted Text (OCR)
Exhibit 8: Growth in US Real GDP Across Post-
WWII Expansions
In this recovery, GDP has grown at half the average pace of
prior expansions.
Cumulative Growth (%)
605, -«=<=<=<- O21. Q3 1980
Q2 1958 04 1982
50 011961 ----- Q1 1991
04 1970 04 2001
Q1 1975 Q2 2009 ~
40 4
30
20
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
Quarters After Trough
Data as of 03 2016.
Source: Investment Strategy Group, Datastream, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Exhibit 9: Growth in US Real GDP per Person in
the Labor Force Across Post-WWII Expansions
But when adjusted for labor force trends, this recovery has
actually been in line with the average of past expansions.
Cumulative Growth (%)
Cl ae 021954 -—-——-031980
Q2 1958 04 1982
50 -| 011961 ----- 011991
04 1970 04 2001
011975 022009
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
Quarters After Trough
Data through 03 2016.
Source: Investment Strategy Group, Datastream, National Bureau of Economic Research.
old today, however, is much healthier and more
vibrant than a 65-year-old in 1935 and has many
more years of active life that can reduce the decline
in the growth rate of the working-age population.
Furthermore, this cohort is quite productive
relative to new entrants into the labor force.
Similarly, immigration reform can help offset the
decline in working-age population growth. Both
factors depend on policy changes, and we do not
have any definitive reason to be either optimistic or
pessimistic at this time.
The second component of the unfavorable
demographics perspective has been the drop in
labor force participation, particularly among
males. Exhibit 10 shows the rapid growth in labor
force participation that occurred as the baby
boom generation reached working age and as
women joined the labor force in growing numbers
after 1950. The labor force participation rate,
however, peaked in 2000 and declined by 0.3%
a year until it troughed at 62.4% in September
2015. Most of the drop was driven by three
factors: significant decline in male labor force
participation, retirement of baby boomers and the
cyclical decline in demand for labor as a result
of the global financial crisis. Some of the cyclical
decline reversed as the economic recovery entered
its eighth year: the participation rate has risen to
62.7% as of November 2016.
The male labor force participation, however,
has been declining, coincidentally also by 0.3%
Exhibit 10: US Labor Force Participation Rate
Both cyclical and structural factors have contributed to a
decline in the participation rate from the 2000 peak.
%
70
68 + 67.3
66
64 4
52 62.7
60 4
58
56 4
54
52 4
50 +
1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016
Data through November 2016.
Source: Investment Strategy Group, Datastream.
per year—but since 1952. The trend has occurred
across all age cohorts. An important driver of this
decline has been reduced demand for lower-skilled
and less-educated males. The US ranks 32 out of
34 OECD countries in participation of prime-age
(between the ages of 24 and 54) males in the labor
force, ahead of only Italy and Israel.18 A Council of
Economic Advisers report in June 2016 attributed
that low ranking to the fact that the US spends
less than other OECD countries on job search
Outlook | Investment Strategy Group 11
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