Idaho state chief economist Derek Santos is reviewing national economic trends for the joint Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee. He began with a bar chart showing the nation’s real gross domestic product growth back to 2007 and forward to 2016, a widely quoted measure of the economy’s health. In 2009, the bar went negative in a big way, and in 2010, it barely moved into the positive range. “The good news is we expect it to pick up speed starting in fiscal year 2014, and in addition, pick up more speed after that,” Santos told the lawmakers, “not crazy speed, but just slight acceleration.”

The national forecasts also call for at least some growth in consumer spending, personal income and employment in 2014 and thereafter. U.S. household net worth fell sharply in 2009 with the recession. “Now we’re starting to see some movement up, and this is a good sign for the economy,” Santos said. “In fiscal year 2013, we finally got above where we were in the great recession.”

Said Santos, “We think Idaho’s economy is also growing.” He noted, “To me this is a much more sustainable type of growth than the boom and bust we saw earlier in the decade.”