The U.S. economy today has been in recovery since 2009. But nearly everyone agrees that the recovery is anemic--too slow to reduce the high level of unemployment. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)--the total value of all the goods and services produced in the United States--increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.…

Assessing the economic progress of blacks in the United States during the last decade and a half, this special report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter I provides an overview of the report noting the overall conclusion that the economic position of blacks (as well as that of other racial minority groups and of poor whites) is not likely to…

The economic problems of localities in the U.S. fall into two broad categories. Problems of low income occur if a local economy supplies too few jobs, and if the jobs that do exist pay low wages or are in the low productivity sectors of the economy. Problems stemming from low economic growth are marked either by an absolute decline or by low…