The United States economy is on the road to recovery with stronger job growth expected this year, but income inequality and Europe's debt crisis could still pose challenges, according to a White House report.
“While actions taken to prevent a deeper recession and to strengthen the recovery have made a difference, the nation is still recovering from that profound crisis and the problems that led to it,” said the report released by President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
The 446-page Economic Report of the President, which outlines a plan to "recover, rebalance and rebuild", focuses heavily on income inequality, and building an America where "everyone gets a fair shot."
One way to do that is job creation. While 1.8 million jobs were created last year, the economy still needs to add about 5.6 million jobs to get back to 2008 employment levels-and that's without accounting for population growth.
The report calls attention to a "manufacturing revival," along with a rise in exports” reports IANS from Washington.
One major challenge the White House points to is Europe's debt crisis. Europe buys about a fifth of US goods that are exported and about 40per cent of US service exports.
“Global and US economic performance will depend, in part, on the swift resolution of problems in the euro area," the report said. The report comes just hours after Congress passed a bipartisan bill extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits.
“The payroll tax cut provides some cushion for families in case they see their costs go up, possibly because of gasoline prices or for other reasons over the course of the year," said Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Indian Cos Invested $26 bn In US In Last 5 Years
Indian companies have invested more than 26 billion dollars in the US in the last five years and the IT companies employ more than one lakh people in that country, New Delhi's top diplomat in Washington has said.
“Indian companies are now contributing strongly to local State economies in the US with a presence in 43 states and having invested over 26 billion dollars in the last five years in several key areas of the economy, in manufacturing as also in services," the Indian Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao, said reports PTI from Washington.
India's IT industry has in particular been a strong player in establishing value based mutually beneficial partnerships, Rao said in her address to Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, India-South Asia Programme.
“As per our estimates, Indian IT companies employ over 100,000 people in the US and the Indian IT industry supports over 280,000 jobs indirectly out of which about 200,000 are with US residents," she said.
Rao said the steady growth of the Indian economy has not only helped improve the living standards of own people, but has also opened up new opportunities to expand mutually beneficial economic and commercial ties with the US.