Economy Statement by Eric Van Nostrand, performing duties of Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy for the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee

IntroductionRecent data indicate that the U.S. economy continued to demonstrate robust growth in the third quarter. Although official data will not be released until after this week’s meeting of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, private-sector estimates suggest that GDP rose around 2.5 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, reflecting persistently strong contributions from household consumption. Meanwhile, third-quarter labor market data significantly reduced concerns that job growth was slowing more quickly than economists would consider optimal. The unemployment rate edged back down to 4.1 percent, a level broadly thought to be consistent with roughly stable inflation.Headline inflation, measured over the past 12 months, continued to edge lower in the third quarter.