Stateside – Recession over says National Bureau of Economic Research

In the USA the agency with responsibility for determining when the US has left recession claims that the recent payroll report showing the biggest increase in employment in three years makes it clear the recession is over.

From the Bloomberg report

The biggest increase in employment in three years makes it “pretty clear” the deepest U.S. recession since the 1930s has ended, said the head of the group charged with making the call.

Payrolls rose by 162,000 workers last month, the third gain in the past five months and the most since March 2007, figures from the Labor Department showed yesterday in Washington.

“I personally put lots of emphasis on employment,” Robert Hall, who heads the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, said in an interview. “I would say ‘pretty clear’ is a good description” for whether the economic contraction has ended, he said.

Update: Morning in America?

Obama economic advisor Larry Summers says US economy reaching escape velocity. From the FT

The US economy is poised for self-sustaining growth and should continue creating jobs in the months ahead, Larry Summers, senior economic adviser to Barack Obama, said in his most upbeat assessment of the economic climate.

Speaking in London ahead of Friday’s strong US payroll figures, which showed the US economy created 162,000 jobs in March, Mr Summers said the administration’s policies had underpinned confidence and fostered investment: “I think the economy appears to be moving towards escape velocity. You hear a lot less talk of W-shaped recoveries and double-dips than you did six months ago.”

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