When you ask people how they’re doing, you often get a knee-jerk “fine” or “good” without much introspection. But lately, when you ask people about the economy, they have clear feelings.Over the past several years, the economy has been remarkable, in a literal sense; there has been a lot to talk about. Inflation rose to levels we hadn’t seen in about 40 years, and home prices climbed roughly 50%. The Federal Reserve stepped in to fight inflation.
About half of Americans say they feel worse about the state of the U.S. economy in general now compared to 12 months ago, according to the NerdWallet survey conducted in April. Just 26% feel better. Among the questions asked, this one garnered the strongest opinions — it had the lowest rate of people who neither felt better nor worse.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just shake the economy, it shook economic data too. This explanation might not be the most likely, however, as the people responsible for economic data are experts in their field. If someone’s going to get it right, it’s likely them. Data collection, benchmarking and seasonal adjustments have all been impacted and continue to be accounted for.