Released: November 17, 2008

Forecasters view economy deteriorating rapidly

Source: Barbara Hagenbaugh, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Forecasters’ views of the economy are deteriorating rapidly, with economists now expecting job losses to be deeper and last longer and consumers to cut back spending at a far more rapid pace than earlier thought.

The U.S. economy is contracting at a 2.6% annual rate in the last three months of the year and will fall at a 1.3% pace in the January-March quarter, according to a survey of 50 members of the National Association for Business Economics taken Oct. 28-Nov. 7 and released Monday.

That is a big change from the survey conducted in mid-September, when the economists said the economy would grow, albeit at a slow pace, during the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. The economy contracted at a 0.3% pace in the July-September period.

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