More than 90 percent of economists predict the recession will end this year. The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) will release the results of an economist survey. The survey is expected to reveal that economists' expectations of an economic recovery run parallel to the Federal Reserve. The Wall Street Journal reported that “about 74 percent of the forecasters expect the recession to end in the third quarter. Another 19 percent predict the turning point will come in the final three months of this year, and the remaining 7 percent believe the recession will end in the first quarter of 2010.” The NABE report claims that unemployment will climb this year even if the economy is rebounding, as companies won't be in a rush to hire until they feel certain any recovery is certain. The forecasters said the unemployment rate should average 9.1 percent, a big jump from 5.8 percent last year and up from its current quarter-century peak of 8.9 percent. This would be the highest since a 9.6 percent rate in 1983, when the country was struggling to recover from a severe recession.
