By Sarah Foster, Bankrate.com

First came the post-pandemic surge in prices. Then came the fastest jump in interest rates in four decades. Now, Americans are contending with a global trade war and a slowing job market.

After five years of one economic headwind after another, it’s no wonder many people feel uneasy about the U.S. economy. Few expect it to get much better.

By September 2026, economists expect the unemployment rate to climb to 4.6 percent and job growth to average just 49,000 jobs a month, less than half of its current pace, according to Bankrate’s latest Economic Indicator Survey. That’s far from the collapse experienced during the pandemic or the Great Recession, but it’s also nowhere near the red-hot labor market of a few years ago.

Economists also think price pressure

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