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<H1 class=storyheadline>It's official: Recession since Dec. '07</H1>
<H2 class=storysubhead>The National Bureau of Economic Research declares what
most Americans already knew: the downturn has been going on for some time.
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<DIV>December 1, 2008: 12:26 PM ET</DIV>
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<P>NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The National Bureau of Economic Research said
Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making
official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the
economy .</P>
<P>The NBER is a private group of leading economists charged with dating the
start and end of economic downturns. It typically takes a long time after the
start of a recession to declare its start because of the need to look at final
readings of various economic measures.</P>
<P>"The committee views the payroll employment measure, which is based on a
large survey of employers, as the most reliable comprehensive estimate of
employment," said the group's statement. "This series reached a peak in December
2007 and has declined every month since then."</P>
<P>Employers have trimmed payrolls by 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of
this year. On Friday, economists are predicting the government will report a
loss of another 325,000 jobs for November. <A
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