CBO says COVID-19 recovery for the U.S. economy will take about 10 years – Marketplace

The Congressional Budget Office is out with some grim projections, saying the U.S. economy wont recover from the coronavirus pandemic until 2029 and the recovery wont begin until next year.

The CBO projects the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the U.S. almost $8 trillion in lost economic output this decade, down 3% from pre-pandemic projections.

The agency says that consumer spending will decline amid high unemployment, and while many out-of-work Americans will get back to work starting this summer as states reopen, the CBO expects it will take a decade for employment to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The agency says until theres a coronavirus vaccine, some amount of social distancing will likely be with us for the foreseeable future, and that will slow the recovery.

The projections incorporate the more than $2 trillion in financial assistance the federal government has doled out.

The CBO says a lot of uncertainty remains about the pandemics effect on the economy, as well as the effect of the financial rescue program. Its projections are likely to change, as those are better understood.

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You can find answers to more questions here.

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CBO says COVID-19 recovery for the U.S. economy will take about 10 years - Marketplace