Economic Growth in the United StatesEconomic growth can be defined as the increase in real GDP per capita (gross domestic product) measured by its rate of change per year. Growth rates are very important because even a small change can make a big difference in the years to come. Knowledge of economic growth is also important because it can provide us with valuable knowledge. According to Robert D. McTeer, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, two factors determine the rate of economic growth: increased productivity (more output for the same amount of inputs) and labor (the number of hours worked). ).Productivity in the United States, thanks to new innovations (which come to fruition after years of investment), is reaching levels not seen since the 1960s. For example: productivity growth has been on average 2, 3 percent between 1996 and 1999, double the average productivity growth of 1.1 percent between 1973 and 1995. At a rate of 2 percent between 1996 and 1999, the labor force also grew, as unemployment fell and welfare recipients disappeared. to work. It is for this reason that the economy has grown by around 4.5 percent each year. However, increasing the labor force, or hours worked, limits labor force growth. Again, according to McTeer, in the long term, productivity growth is the key to increasing living standards. Furthermore, the economic expansion we are experiencing has many advantages. Economists commonly refer to the current economic expansion as "the economic boom of the 1990s" because the current growth of the U.S. economy is the longest on record during peacetime. Economists observe that this expansion has benefited almost all Americans. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, more than three out of four jobs created between 1989 and 1995 were in highly paid professional and managerial positions. The Council of Economic Advisers reported that in 1995 and 1996, more than half of the new jobs created were in fields where the average salary was in the top third of all salaries. Another big positive, according to the January 19, 1999 issue of Investor's Business Daily, was that 1.67 million families left welfare and an additional 1.74 million single parents found jobs. Although this economic expansion was the longest since World War II (according to the New York Times, October 18, 1998), growth during the 1990s was weaker than in any growth cycle since the end of the war..