WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. economy is poised for its greatest strength since the financial crisis started, although the jobless rate will ease only slightly, economists say.
"The recovery in 2011 will be strong enough for us to see sustained job creation that will finally give Americans a tangible sense of an improving economy," Georgetown University visiting professor Phillip L. Swagel told The New York Times.
Swagel was the U.S. Treasury Department's chief economist during the George W. Bush administration.
Economists say a number of signs point to a marked improvement, the Times reported Thursday.
Retail sales, industrial production and factory orders are rising while new unemployment claims are falling. Consumer confidence is improving and large corporations report healthy profits.
A key reason for optimism is the $858 billion tax-cut compromise U.S. President Barack Obama worked out with Congressional Republicans, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan D. Goolsbee says.
"There aren't many policies which, on the day Washington announces them, lead most private-sector forecasters to publicly and significantly revise their forecasts upward," he told the Times. "This one did."
The recession was officially declared over in June 2009, although the required two consecutive quarters of growth in the U.S. gross domestic product did not actually occur until the end of 2009.
U.S. economic growth, which will be around 3 percent this year, will rise to 4 percent for most of 2011, Goldman Sachs said.
