After expanding at a rate of less than 1 percent in the first six months of the year, the nation’seconomy grew at a 2.5 percent annual pace from July through September, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. It was the fastest rate of growth in a year.
In a separate report, the University of Massachusetts said the state’s economy also accelerated, expanding at an annual rate of 3.9 percent from July through September, the best growth rate in almost two years.
The economy, however, is far from healed, economists cautioned. It still is not growing fastenough to make a significant dent in the unemployment rate, 9.1 percent nationally and 7.3percent in Massachusetts.
Though fears of a recession have dimmed, hiring remains slow and more than 14 million Americans are unemployed, including more than 250,000 in Massachusetts.
‘‘It’s not like we’re in a normal world, but we’re certainly not on the precipice of recession,’’ said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Amherst College. ‘‘There was a lot of hysteria about that in August and early September and those fears and hysterias have obviously come down significantly.’’
Helping to calm the hysteria was a $1.4 trillion deal by European leaders to support nations,such as a Greece, Portugal, and Ireland, struggling with burdensome debts and weak economies.
In addition, European leaders reached agreement with banks that would forgive about half ofGreece’s debt.
“It’s a good first step, but that’s all it is,’’ said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHSGlobal Insight, a Lexington forecasting firm, commenting on the European deal. ‘‘For the moment we’ve put that behind us.’’
In the United States, much of the economic growth was the result of an increase in businessand consumer spending. Businesses, enjoying strong profits, increased investment in real estate and equipment at annual rate of more than 16 percent, the Commerce Department reported.
