The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book survey, released Wednesday indicates that the economy is growing; however, the recent adverse East Coast weather conditions thwarted activity.
"Economic conditions continued to expand,” said the report “although severe snowstorms in early February held back activity." Despite the reported economic growth companies are not yet ready to begin hiring.
The hesitancy of companies to begin hiring again makes the setbacks from the snow more troublesome than they ordinarily would be. The Richmond district, one of 12 surveyed by the Fed, reported that the weather had the greatest effect on economic activity, attributing it to the slow activity across most sectors.
Even without the snow, the recovery appeared to be weakening after the GDP grew an impressive 5.9 percent last quarter. Economists predict that number will slide to around 3 percent without the aid of corporations across sectors refilling stockpiles as they did last quarter. That level won’t speed the unemployment rate which has been forecast to remain somewhat stagnant in 2010.
In their official report the Fed wrote that the jobs market "remained soft throughout the nation.”
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