The Economy in 2023
How was the economy during 2023? Looking at six key economic indicators it appears the results were not so bad compared to an average of the prior 20 years. Real (inflation-adjusted) GDP increased by 2.5%, a bit above the 2% average. The inflation rate at 3.7% is still above the 2.5% average but improved significantly vs 2022. Unemployment at 3.4% is an all-time low. The S&P 500 improved 9.4% over the 12 months while the NASDAQ improved a whopping 43.4%. The wage increase was almost double the average. Not a bad year.
| Year | Real GDP | Inflation | Unemployment | S&P 500 | NASDAQ | AVG wage | |
| Growth * | Rate | Rate | % change | % change | Increase * | ||
| 2002 | 1.70% | 2.40% | 6.00% | -22% | -31.53% | -1.40% | |
| 2003 | 2.80% | 1.90% | 5.70% | 29% | 50.01% | 0.50% | |
| 2004 | 3.90% | 3.30% | 5.40% | 11% | 8.59% | 1.40% | |
| 2005 | 3.50% | 3.40% | 4.90% | 49% | 1.37% | 0.20% | |
| 2006 | 2.80% | 2.50% | 4.40% | 16% | 9.52% | 1.80% | |
| 2007 | 2.00% | 4.10% | 5.00% | 54% | 9.81% | 2.5% | |
| 2008 | 0.10% | 0.10% | 7.30% | -37% | -40.54% | 2.2% | |
| 2009 | -2.60% | 2.70% | 9.90% | 26% | 43.89% | -4.1% | |
| 2010 | 2.70% | 1.50% | 9.30% | 15% | 16.91% | 0.3% | |
| 2011 | 1.50% | 3.00% | 8.50% | 32% | -1.80% | 1.6% | |
| 2012 | 2.30% | 1.70% | 7.90% | 14% | 15.91% | 0.8% | |
| 2013 | 1.80% | 1.50% | 6.70% | 1% | 38.32% | 0.5% | |
| 2014 | 2.30% | 0.80% | 5.60% | 12% | 13.40% | 1.3% | |
| 2015 | 2.70% | 0.70% | 5.00% | 22% | 5.73% | 0.8% | |
| 2016 | 1.70% | 2.10% | 4.70% | -4% | 7.50% | -0.6% | |
| 2017 | 2.30% | 2.10% | 4.10% | 22% | 28.24% | 1.5% | |
| 2018 | 2.90% | 1.90% | 3.90% | 18% | -3.88% | 0.7% | |
| 2019 | 2.30% | 2.30% | 3.60% | 31% | 35.23% | 1.5% | |
| 2020 | -3.40% | 1.40% | 6.70% | 18% | 43.64% | 6.2% | |
| 2021 | 5.70% | 7.00% | 3.90% | 29% | 21.39% | 3.2% | |
| 2022 | 2.70% | 6.50% | 3.70% | 18% | -33.10% | 2.6% | |
| 2023 | 2.50% | 3.70% | 3.40% | 9.4% | 43.42% | 2.1% | |
| Average | 2.0% | 2.5% | 5.8% | 16.9% | 11.4% | 1.1% | |
| w/o 2023 | |||||||
| * Inflation adjusted | |||||||
One more item to consider is the price of gas. The price of regular gas declined by 12% from December 2022 to December
2023. Considering inflation adjustment, the gas price is no higher today than 20 years ago.
