Recession declared officially over

The American research agency regarded as the definitive authority on defining economic recessions declared Monday that the longest recession in the U.S. since World War II ended in June 2009.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a panel of academic economists based in Cambridge, Mass., said the recession lasted 18 months. The NBER said it started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.

The longest post-war downturns before that, each running 16 months, were in 1973-75 and in 1981-82.

The decision makes official what many economists have known for some time, that the recession ended in the summer of 2009.

Any future downturn in the economy would now mark the start of a new recession, not the continuation of the December 2007 recession, NBER said.

That's important because if the economy starts shrinking again, it could mark the onset of a "double-dip" recession.

To make its determination, the NBER looks at figures that make up the nation's gross domestic product, which measures the total value of goods and services produced within the United States. It also reviews incomes, employment and industrial activity.

The economy lost 7.3 million jobs in the 2007-09 recession, also the most in the post World War II period.

NBER's announcement meant little to ordinary Americans, with unemployment still high, at 9.6 per cent, and a continuing weak housing market.

Economic woes still 'very real'

The recession is "still very real for them," U.S. President Barack Obama told CNBC news in an interview shortly after the NBER made its announcement.

Obama said the economy has stabilized but the question now is what can governments do now to ensure the recovery accelerates.

Unemployment usually keeps rising well after a recession ends.

Four months after the 2007 downturn ended, unemployment spiked to 10.1 per cent in October 2009, the highest in just over a quarter-century.

The NBER normally takes its time in declaring a recession has started or ended.

For instance, the NBER announced in December 2008 that the recession had actually started one year earlier, in December 2007.

Similarly, it declared in July 2003 that the 2001 recession was over. It actually ended 20 months earlier, in November 2001.