Americans should get used to a "new normal" of slow economic growth, business economists say.
The median estimate from economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics calls for the American economy to grow 2.2 percent in 2017, up from a forecast 1.6 percent this year and unchanged from the previous survey in September.
The improved number is still lackluster by historical standards. U.S. economic growth averaged 3.1 percent a year from 1948 to 2015, according to the Congressional Research Service. But the business economists say Americans need to get used to slow growth: 80 percent of those surveyed believe the potential growth rate of the American economy will remain at 2.5 percent or lower over the next five years.
The economy has been hobbled by an aging work force and weak gains in productivity.
Still, the economists see the risk of a recession as remote; 90 percent expect the current economic expansion to continue until at least 2018.
They expect employers to add an average 168,000 jobs a month in 2017, down from 180,000 a month so far this year.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.