The economy will not return to the "pre-pandemic level of activity" until the fourth quarter of 2021, the chief economist at the Conference Board, Dana Peterson, said in an Axios virtual event on Friday, foreseeing "many more quarters of weakness."
Why it matters: Peterson said the economy's recovery will depend on governments reopening businesses and "allowing mobility both internally and externally," as well as on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The big picture: The Department of Commerce said yesterday that the U.S. economy hit record growth in the third quarter, with 33.1% annualized rate increase. However, that's still 3.5% smaller than at the end of 2019.
- During the second quarter, the economy shrank at an annualized rate of 32.9%, the worst contraction on record since 1958.
Go deeper: It's about to get even worse
