U.S. Recession Began in March

Voice of America, November 26, 2001

The U.S. research group that monitors business cycles says the U.S. economy went into recession nine months ago and the downturn was made worse by the September 11th terrorist attacks.

The private National Bureau of Economic Research says the longest U.S. economic expansion in American history ended last March, after 10 years of growth.

The six economists who form the NBER committee look at statistics on employment, industrial production, wholesale and retail trade, and personal income. A recession is technically defined as six consecutive months when the economy is shrinking instead of growing.

The downturn was made worse by the September 11 terrorist attacks. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill says the economy has already recovered much of what it lost due to the attacks.

Also Monday, President Bush urged Congress to pass legislation aimed at giving the economy a boost.

Many Republican lawmakers favor Mr. Bush's plan of major business tax cuts, while most Democratic lawmakers say they want more help for unemployed workers to be part of the stimulus package. Mr. Bush said he wants to sign an economic stimulus bill before the end of the year and that his plan makes sense for the long term benefits of the country.

The U.S. central bank (Federal Reserve) has been cutting interest rates over the past year in an effort to stimulate growth in the world's largest economy.

More TruthNews