Recessions always bring economic change. Headlines typically focus on the new economic forces they unleash. But even more powerfully, they reinforce economic changes that were already unfolding. When that happens, recessions contribute to fundamental and long-term shifts that impact every profession.
Ongoing economic trends are doing just that. Before the recession, economic growth in China and most of Asia (except Japan) was outpacing growth in North America and Western Europe. The recession has magnified this gap. While the American economy last year was contracting by more than 2 percent, China’s economy was still growing by more than 8 percent. This year it’s projected that the U.S. will rebound to positive growth of more than 2 percent; China will grow by more than 9 percent.
