The United States economy grows 1.6% in the second quarter and recovers the pre-pandemic level

The United States economy gave another acceleration in the second quarter of the year, spurred by the openness, the advance of vaccines and the new economic stimuli of the Government, and achieved a growth rate of 1.6% (6.5% in the annualized data, which is the usual form of measurement in the country) thus recovering the levels of pre-pandemic activity.

The first power has experienced the shortest recession in history.

The advance of the delta variant of the coronavirus and the slowdown in the labor market, however, may cast a shadow over the coming months.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was optimistic on Wednesday, but remained cautious about the effects of this new version of the virus on the economy.

"We are not experts on this [the virus], but with a reasonably high percentage of the population vaccinated and the vaccines working, it seems correct to estimate that the effects will be minor," he said at a press conference.

The body that dictates monetary policy in the United States, equivalent to central banks, raised its growth forecast for this year to 7% last June, compared to the 6.5% projection it had made last March, a Cruising speed not recorded since the 1980s. The landslide it emerged from was also the sharpest since the Great Depression.

The job market, however, still has a way to go to regain ground lost due to the economic hibernation imposed by the coronavirus.

The unemployment rate stood at 5.9% last month, which was an increase of one tenth compared to May and moved it away a little more than 3.5% before the pandemic.