U.S. Economy

• Recovery projections were found from The Conference Board, the Federal Reserve, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Although these projections typically on look out a couple of years, it appears clear that there is plenty of data on the economy and 1,3, and 5 year projections should be readily available.
• The U.S. GDP "decreased at an annual rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020." The 2nd quarter GDP was $19.41 trillion.
• The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6% in January 2020, and decreased to 3.5% in February. Since then, the rates were 4.4% in March, 14.7% in April, 13.3% in May, and 11.1% in June.
• Consumer spending was $13,851.2 billion in June 2020, which was a 5.6% increase.

Industries Positively Impacted by COVID-19

• According to IBISWorld, some industries positively impacted, or not negatively impacted by COVID-19 are utilities; retail food & beverage; retail personal care; publishing, broadcasting & telecommunications; and some professional services (accounting, legal, and management consulting)

Summary of Findings

• In our initial research, we only had time to research some basic information on the U.S. economy and industries that have not been negatively impacted by COVID-19. However, there is still more research needed in these areas.
• We did not have time to address the social and political impact on the economy, revenue growth for the industries that are doing well, or anything related specifically to consulting firms.
• Please note, addressing all of the topics of interest would result in this being a large project, and the following proposed next steps do not cover every topic.