suspect that most of you have heard that the recession is over and I also suspect that few of you feel like the recession is over. The unemployment rate is still high nationally and still rising in West Virginia. Perhaps the best analogy is to taking a hard foul on the way to the basket; the recession (the way economists define it) is over when you hit the floor. But you don't feel like it's over until you get back up on your feet, and even then you may have some lingering bruises. Well, the consensus is that we hit the floor last summer and have been in the process of getting back on our feet ever since. That represents recovery, but the pain is still with many of us to be sure, and we are a long way from a full recovery.

Even though from a technical perspective the recession is very likely over at this point, it is still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time as many people still find their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was. 

From the audience Q&A, as reported by the Wall Street Journal

(Bernanke's prepared remarks were identical to a speech given in the previous month at the Kansas City Fed.)

My view of the more immediate outlook for the U.S. economy is that we will emerge from this recession - perhaps as soon as the second half of the year, but most likely in early 2010, as many economists project.

After two quarters where real GDP shrank by more than 6 percent, I expect that the economy will contract by much less than that this quarter, and that we will begin to see positive growth – perhaps by the end of the year.
...
With significant growth in payroll employment unlikely until next year it will obviously and unfortunately be some time before we see labor markets return to what we think of as “full employment.”  And it is too soon to know when the trough of the recession will occur, although there are hopeful signs that we are nearing it.

Characterizing the current period as a "recession" is still wanting, insufficient in some important respects. In my view, this period should equally be considered a panic, one that preceded, if not made more pronounced, the official recession. Hence, the Panic of 2008, which preceded the calendar year, is a more revealing description of the recent economic and financial travails.

Collectively, the information I have been looking at tells me that the economy is now in a recession, although the National Bureau of Economic Research, the referee in such matters, has yet to call one. Nationally, employment has been declining all year, and in last week’s employment report we saw the characteristic monthly employment losses that are associated with a recession.

Recent data indicate that the national economy is in recession. Economic activity as measured by real gross domestic product (GDP) declined an estimated 0.3 percent at an annualized rate in the third quarter, according to the advance estimate. Data for October suggest an even steeper decline in GDP for the fourth quarter.

We are in a serious slowdown in the economy, which has very significant consequences for the public, and whether it's called a recession or not is of no consequence.

From the Q&A session

Growth in the fourth quarter appears to be weaker yet, with an outright contraction quite likely. Indeed, the U.S. economy appears to be in a recession. This is not a controversial view, since the latest Blue Chip consensus projects that there will be three consecutive quarters of contraction in real GDP starting last quarter.