Harsh winter conditions and increasing oil prices had an impact on consumer, building, and business spending resulted to a slow economy in the first quarter of 2011. However, economists say that this was a temporary setback as growth is expected to resume for the remainder of 2011.

The government released a new snapshot of the state of the economy Thursday morning which is expected to show a 1.9 percent annual growth rate in the first three months of the year. This was much weaker than the 3.1 percent growth rate recorded in the last quarter of 2010 and the most sluggish since spring last year when concerns about Europe’s debt crisis resulted to a slow 1.7 percent rate.

According to economists, consumers and businesses will spend more in the coming months because the cost of gasoline will become stable by summer and drop to $3.50 by fall. The increase in oil prices have consumed much of what Americans are receiving from the Social Security payroll tax cut.

According to a new survey by the Associated Press predict that the economy is moving at a 3.2 percent growth rate as the economy is expected to improve over the rest of the year. In a news conference Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke most of the factors that contributed to a slow growth in the first three months seems to be transitory.

Bernanke, however, said that the crippled real estate will continue to have an impact on the country’s economic recovery. He said home building and commercial construction were both “very weak” in the first three months of 2011. In normal conditions, construction spending has a major influence in economic recovery. However, it is not the case this time.

The collapse of the real estate industry triggered the US economic recession and economists predict will take years for the industry to recover. Two years since the end of the recession, there is still depression in the housing market. Bernanke said that this is one of the reasons the US economy will recover slowly.

In addition, Bernanke said that the unemployment rate, currently at 8.8 percent, will experience a slow growth despite the increase in hiring of companies. In 2010, economic growth was a 2.9 percent. The economy needs to grow at least 5 percent for the unemployment rate to drop more quickly.

The Federal Reserve sees the unemployment rate will drop to as low as 8.4 percent this year and 7.6 percent in 2012 when President Obama guns for re-election. Regular unemployment is considered closer to 5.5 percent to 6 percent.

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