Are the Roaring 20’s Back?
Seizing Opportunities at a Transformative Inflection Point
For the U.S., economists and business pundits seem to be changing their perspective of going from a slow economy or recession to an economic renaissance, reminiscent of the 'Roaring '20s'.
Indicators of a period of persisting growth and technological advancements seem to show that the U.S. is bucking the trend and fortunately, the guidance and warnings we got about a recession are proving to have been too conservative.
Economic Stats
The U.S. economy has shown remarkable agility, growing faster than anticipated, fueled by robust household and government spending.
Household spending increased $133.9 billion in December, reflected by an increase of $75.6 billion in spending for services and a $58.4 billion increase in spending for goods.? Within services, the largest contributors to the increase were financial services and insurance, health care and recreation services. Within goods, the largest contributors to the increase were motor vehicles and parts and gasoline and other energy goods.
Moreover, government spending (see chart below) has been on the rise since the start of Q1, 2022. ??
According to veteran market strategist Ed Yardeni and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the GDP growth rate hit an annual rate of 3.3% over the fourth quarter of 2023. This upswing, coupled with a general downtrend in inflation, marks a period of unexpected economic resilience.
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What does it mean for Businesses
A stronger economy means more business opportunities, but some companies may be a bit reticent to invest in expansion. With news of layoffs hitting the tech industry, many companies take it as an indicator that their industry may be impacted too.
In order to navigate the labor market and volatile economic and geo-political landscapes, businesses need more than traditional approaches. We are now accustomed to virtual work and the ability to run on operating expenses instead of fixed overhead and this requires strategic allies.
With a business process outsourcing partner, you can benefit from process efficiency by tapping the experience a third party has across industries and different functions – a breadth of experience. And by tapping into a right-shoring partner, you can take advantage of cost efficiencies depending on the requirement and functions you may want to extend to a co-sourcing partner.
While companies may be timid about hiring more people for anticipated needs, building a relationship with an outsourcing partner, such as Premier BPO, enables companies to scale at speed and provide their end customers with higher customer service and differentiate from companies that are still hunkered down, waiting to make the investment.
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