As 2017 has come to a optimistic, yet concerning end, economists, politicians and consumers from all sectors of the socioeconomic spectrum are looking to predictive analysis of what the 2018 economy should look like. In this article I will give my own analysis and understanding based on recent economic trends and developments.

2018 on paper looks very promising. The economic growth achieved by the United States in 2017 has been exponential and has been significantly higher than what was previously predicted. The Federal Reserve predicted that the US economy would grow between 2.1 and 2.2 percent, however in actuality between all quarters, growth remained stable at 3.1 to 3.2 percent, indicating strong private sector growth especially within the technologies, robotics and housing industries. Despite the threat of political instability and the uncertainty of the economic state as a result of actions by the White House, the economy remained strong without much change in volatility. The Stock Market has seen significant growth, reaching all -time highs as a result of a new market hysteria, or hype that has been attributed to the current administration. However, the growth in 2017 stemmed more from private sector and state-wide public sector policies than most federal policies.

2018 seems to echo the current trend of growth and economic prosperity on paper. The current industries seem to be diversifying and growing as the costs for production decrease and products become more lucrative an achieve better qualities. Employment has risen, and is expected to grow even further. Most economists are predicting that the unemployment rate will decrease to 3.5%, well below the 5% needed to achieve full employment. However, the economy in practice will see some major shortfalls that many common economic indicators do not show properly.

One significant factor that seems to continue to decrease is the growth of productivity. Productivity has remained stagnant as the benefits of employment decrease and the overall job market suffers drastically. As a result, more people are prolonging work. Recent studies abroad within Switzerland and France have shown that more work gets done in the first 6 hours of the work day than 8 hours. In other words, the utility of the first six hours is much greater than the utlity of the last two in an 8 hour workday. As a result, there are more costs attributed to the extra two hours. In addition, wages for most of the population continue to be stagnant. However, wages for those in the upper eschelons of the socioeconomic spectrum continue to rise exponentially, which affects the national average of wages. As a result for most of the population wages continue to remain the same as the costs of other products increase, decreasing disposable income which also decreases consumption as well as the multiplier effect of eocnomic growth and investment. Therefore my analysis of 2018 shows a trend of economic growth, however the beneficiaries of this growth would be those in the higher brackets of socioeconomic wealth.