California’s economy is expected to continue to grow faster than the U.S. economy, but the report indicates that growth at the state and national levels will be weaker in 2020.
UCLA Anderson Forecast’s quarterly outlook for the national economy foresees real gross domestic product growth in the 2 percent to 2.5 percent range throughout 2017 and 2018, where it has been for the past seven years.
According to senior economist David Shulman, with the economy generating jobs at a 200,000-a-month clip, the unemployment rate should soon drop to 4.6 percent.
The report foresees the U.S. economy likely growing at a 3 percent pace during the next two years, as lower oil prices and higher wages bolster consumer spending and the unemployment rate falls.
The outlook is based on the recent Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast Commercial Real Estate Survey, which analyzes the three-year outlook for real estate development activity in California.
The current forecast picks up where March's left off, predicting "normal growth" in the 3 percent range through 2016. In California, the unemployment rate will continue to drop.