Stagnant economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2015, as well as slow growth thus far in 2016 caused concern over the state of the nation’s economy to climb three positions to fifth overall in the latest ATRI list of industry issues. Some economists have suggested that slow growth may have become the new norm for the US economy.
This economic stagnation has generated significant concern among industry stakeholders, who for the past two years have ranked the economy much lower in the list of annual concerns, thanks to the strong post-Great Recession period between 2011 and 2014 (ninth in 2014 and eighth in 2015).
The oil and gas shale boom was the key economic driving force from 2011 to 2014, and the US economy has suffered in the years since the boom ended.