US recession over, but recovery not felt

THE worst recession since the Great Depression ended more than a year ago, the nation’s official scorekeeper declared on Monday, but the aftershocks from the once-in-a-century event continue to reverberate through the economy and people’s lives.
The national bureau of economic research, a committee of academic economists in Boston, said the recession that began in December 2007 ended in June of last year, marking both the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s nightmare that shaped the lives of generations afterward.
But the committee – like the public at large – seemed unimpressed with the progress the economy has made since then, noting that it has not yet recovered all the ground lost during the recession.
And it kept the door open to the possibility of a “double-dip” or second recession starting later this year.
“The recovery still feels like a recession” to many people, Harm Bandholz, an economist at Unicredit Markets, said, noting that while the committee took painstaking care to declare a definitive end to the recession, its lack of “enthusiasm” about the recovery equals that of the public and most businesses.
The research group determined that while the plunge in overall economic output of 4.1% ended in June last year, when the recovery began, the recovery in jobs and incomes started later – last December.
Since then, the recovery has generated nearly 800,000 jobs, but it is the lagging effects of the recession on the job market that makes the greatest impression on most people and is the reason that many Americans still believe the economy is in recession, Bandholz said. – The Washington Times