Figures show '01 slowdown may not have been recession

WASHINGTON -- The government released revised figures for the gross domestic product Friday that showed that, under one standard definition of a recession, the 2001 downturn doesn't qualify.

Under revised data released by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, the GDP did not decline for three consecutive quarters in 2001 as the old data had showed. In fact, the GDP didn't post consecutive declines.

The new data show that the GDP fell at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2001, then rose at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the second quarter and fell again at a rate of 1.4 percent in the third quarter.

The old data had the GDP falling at annual rates of 0.2 percent in the first quarter, 0.6 percent in the second quarter and 1.3 percent in the third quarter.

That would fit the often-cited definition of a recession as a downturn in economic activity represented by at least two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

It also matched the period in which the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recognized arbiter of recessions, said the country was in a slump, which it dated as starting in March 2001 and ending in November of that year.

The question of whether a recession took place -- and when it began -- is certain to gain added importance as both Bush and Sen. John Kerry, his Democratic challenger, clash over economic policies in the remaining weeks before the Nov. 2 election.