FILE - In this Thursday, March 3, 2016, file photo, a job candidate's resume sits on a table as he interviews for a job during a recruiting event at the Georgia Department of Labor office in Atlanta. Doubts deepened about the economy’s health on Friday, June 3, 2016, when the government reported that hiring slowed to a near-standstill in May. While unemployment slid from 5 percent to 4.7 percent, the lowest since November 2007, the rate fell for a troubling reason: Nearly a half-million jobless Americans stopped looking for work and so were no longer counted as unemployed. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
June 05, 2016 - 9:03 PM
Business economists are giving a more pessimistic outlook about U.S. economic growth this year for the third consecutive month and uncertainty over the November presidential election has proven to be damaging.
The median estimate from economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics calls for gross domestic product growth of only 1.8 per cent, down from the 2.2 per cent forecast in March. The outlook for next year calls for 2.3 per cent growth.
The survey released Monday also shows the forecast for growth in corporate profits swinging from a 2 per cent gain in March, to negative 2 per cent in June.
Of the economists surveyed, 57 per cent said that uncertainty over the election led them to reduce their expectations.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016