http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/ap20030717_459.html
According to this group, the recession ended in November of 2001. Indeed, that must come as a huge relief for the 6.4% of Americans who are unemployed.
-----------------------------------------------------
Academics Declare Recession Ended in 2001
Academic Group Declares Recession Officially Ended in November of 2001
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON July 17 —
The academic group given the job of dating recessions declared on Thursday that the 2001 recession, the country's first downturn in a decade, officially ended in November of that year, only eight months after it had begun.
The decision was made by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of academic economists which is the recognized arbiter of when recessions begin and end in the United States.
The announcement came after a meeting of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee, which has struggled for months to reconcile the fact that while the U.S. economy resumed growth in late 2001, as measured by the gross domestic product, unemployment has continued to rise.
While the determination of the official ending date for the recession is of interest to economic historians, it is likely to bring little comfort to the nation's unemployed, who have seen their ranks swell in recent months.
The unemployment rate hit a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June, bringing more charges from Democrats that President Bush is mishandling the economy.
?
Linear Mode
