[onemiddleamerican]

I guess I'm just too stupid to understand these economy issues. I can't figure out, if the unemployment rate has stayed at 9.6% for months, and now it's up to 9.8%, how economists and financial talking heads can say we are 17 months into a recovery. I always thought recovery meant that things are getting better.

They aren't.

[LibsRJerks]

You’re just not “intellectually liberal” enough to understand it, that’s all. /sarc.

[jpsb]

I'm not to smart on this stuff either but I do believe Gross Domestic Production (GDP) as measured in US dollars is used to determine recession/recovery. So lets say in 3rd quarter 2008 the GDP was 15 trillion dollars/yr and then the recession hit so that 4th quarter 2008 GDP was 12 trillion/per then it (recession) bottomed out say 2cd quarter 2009 at 10 trillion/yer. So the bottom of the recession is a GSP of 10T/yr. Now if we have a GDP of 11T/yr then we are in recovery even thou the GDP is way below what it was in 2008. All they look at is the direction of the GDP graph over 2 quarters of a year, up=recovery, down=recession. Hope that helps and I hope it is mostly correct. lol.

Also the GDP numbers are susposed to be corrected for inflation but I seriouly doubt that since gov seems to think there is no inflation.

[Calif Conservative]

It’s a recovery from from the recession that ended.

During the recession the GDP contracted. After the contraction was over, the GDP began to expand. Hence the term recovery.

The economy can still grow (albeit weakly) and you can still have rising jobless rates or anemic expansion in job totals.

An analogy:

You run a business with 100 workers. Things do well for 7 fat years. Then for whatever reason, sales decline and profits shrink — or you even lose money.

So you lay off 10 percent of your workers. Now you’re turning a profit but sales have yet to improve.

After about six months to 18 months or so with 90 employees, your sales rise and you’re back in the black.

So you have to run longer shifts to meet demand. Rather than hire people, you pay existing workers more overtime, more bonuses, etc. But you still have 90 employees. Or put another way, your unemployment rate, compared to the optimal number of workers you have recently, is 10 percent.

Your business has improved. Your sales are up. Profits are better. But you still have a workforce that remains 10 percent smaller than it was two years ago.

-George