Economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics raised slightly their growth projections for the US economy in 2017, the association announced today. The median forecast for 2017 real GDP growth edged up to 2.3% from 2.2% in the December survey, reflecting a more optimistic outlook for the second half of the year.

Real GDP — which grew 1.6% in 2016 — is expected to accelerate to 2.5% in 2018.

“Panelists expect higher oil prices, rising long-term interest rates, and further gains in compensation in 2017,” said NABE President Stuart Mackintosh, executive director, Group of Thirty. “Various measures of inflation suggest gradually rising price pressures this year. In addition, the survey results reflect a strong improvement in the economy’s capacity to create new jobs. Consistent with these inflation and labor market developments, the panel anticipates that the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate three times in both 2017 and 2018, bringing the midpoint of the target range to 2.125% by the end of next year.”

NABE is a professional association for business economists and others who use economics in the workplace. The survey included 50 forecasters and was conducted between Feb. 23 and March 9.

The forecaster’s median forecast in the new survey is for inflation-adjusted US real gross domestic product to grow at an annualized rate of 1.9% in 2017, identical to the December 2016 forecast but 0.6 percentage points higher than the actual 1.3% increase in 2016.

Panelists forecast nonfarm payroll growth to average 183,000 jobs per month in 2017, up from 168,000 forecast in the December survey and close to the actual 187,000 average monthly jobs gained in 2016. However, panelists forecast a smaller gain of 166,000 jobs in 2018.

The unemployment rate is now expected to average 4.6% in 2017 down slightly from the median December forecast of 4.7% but below the 2016 average of 4.9%.