As early as January of 2008, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) already predicted that global economic growth will decline. It would be greatly affected by the United Stated Economy.

The IMF mentioned that the economic recession in the United States will be affected greatly by the financial market conditions and the continuing correction in the U.S. housing market. IMF predicted that the United States will have a mild recession in 2008 but will recover, although modest, in 2009. They were off their predictions a bit.

Meanwhile, global growth would achieve little recovery in 2009, there is a 25 percent chance that the global economy would record 3 percent or less of growth in 2008 and 2009.  This is already like saying that the world will encounter a recession.

United Nations has also predicted the same thing to happen. According to UN, the world economy growth was  remarkable in 2007. There are more than 100 economies tat reported to have an increase of 3 percent. Meanwhile, developing countries are also showing promises.  The economic growth average in developing countries was almost 70 percent.

But UN Conference on Trade and Development stated that there is clear disaster or danger for the world economy to standstill in 2009. The UN report stated that this economic standstill will hit many poor nations and would definitely end the boom in economic growth.

The United States economic decline on 2008 will greatly affect the global economy. Being one of the largest economy in the world. Some reckless practices has brought the looming recession in the United States; no down payment, no verification of income/ assets/ jobs, interest rate mortgages, negative amortization, and teaser rates. Approximately 50 to 60 percent of the loans made in the banks were done through these reckless practices.

Economic recessions are not only distinct in the United States. European countries are also getting affected by economic slowdown. Denmark was confirmed to be in a recession. The economic growth in Denmark declined by 0.6 percent in the first quarter of the year. While Estonia and Latvia both entered recession in the second quarter of the year. While Sweden showed zero growth in the second water of 2008 and some countries are nearly bankrupt.

The British economy is also being hit by rising oils prices and credit crisis. Telltale signs that the British economy is entering recession, when the housing market fell in 2007. In the next quarter, the housing market went down twice its former figure. Currently the economic growth in United Kingdom is zero. This would be next to the negative economic growth that happened in second quarter of 1992. The current slowdown has ended 16 years of continuous economic growth, the longest period of economic expansion in Britain since the 19th century.

Economic crisis is also happening in New Zealand whose economy’s growth declined by 0.3 percent. Meanwhile in Australia, consumer confidence fell into a 16 year low economic growth in July. South Africa is being warned that it will enter a recession by this year.  Japan has experienced a drop in economic growth, the first time in five years. Meanwhile, Canada’s economic growth has shrank in the first quarter of the year.

But like everything else, dealing with economic recession is easier than it seems especially if you do have a steady income that you can rely on. The only secret to dealing with the economic recession is to save up. Here are some of the things that you can do to better deal with economic recession.

1. Don’t waste
Although this should be done whether there is economic recession or not, learning to save whatever you can is a crucial part in surviving these hard times. And what is more, it is so easy to do. You only have to remember to only use and buy things that you feel you can use. You can start with telling your kids to only put food that they can eat on their plates. If they finish them off, then they can get a second helping. You should also tell them that they should clean their plates all the time because food is expensive. This is a great thing to teach your children as this will allow them to learn how to live during tight times.

2. Plan and organize your life
Planning can save you a lot of money, energy and gas. In fact when you organize your schedule, you will see how you are less stressed out about things. Your activities and errands will flow more smoothly and things will be easier to do. For instance, when buying food it is good to have a list of items that you will be buying. This list of course will depend upon the meal schedule that you have already prepared for the family. That way, you already know how much you will have to purchase. No wastage. No leftovers. This saves time and money.

Another area that planning can have a benefit in is in saving gas. When you have mapped out your activities for the day, you can plan where to go first and then the next. This way, you don’t have to go back to the same way you traveled or go on a separate trip just because you forgot to take the clothes to the cleaners or you forgot to go to the grocery store.

3. Take advantage of discounts
Because there isn’t much people buying stuff, a lot of stores are constantly devising ways to get customers in. Take advantage of special promos and discounts.

4. Save money
During an economic recession, you won’t have any idea what will happen. The best thing you can do is to prepare for any eventualities and hope that you will not suddenly lose your job or suffer from the effects of the recession. To be sure, it is good to save money in the bank. Cut back on expenses that are not important.

That way, you can save enough for the future so that you will have something to use just in case.

During these times, all you can do is to hope and pray that you will still be able to keep your job and survive the recession until everything is ok again. To do this, you need to save up and make sure that you are ready for every eventuality. Here are some tips on how to deal with every American’s concern right now.

1. Be prepared

What you know cannot kill you. There is nothing wrong and being prepared for potential problems. Even if right now, you don’t have any problems financially, it pays to get ready for the coming challenges. You can do this by saving up some money and putting them in the bank. That way, you can use something for the rainy day.

Think of other ways that you can be prepared and plan around it. Look at your expenses every month and check where you can cut off the extras. With them side by side, you will know just where you are overbudgeting. This is also an excellent way to plan and save for future expenses like for instance, your children’s tuition fees.

2. Save with your consumption

Another way to do this is to make sure that you will be spending less for the household. You can do this by cutting expenses that are not necessary like in luxury items such as clothes, entertainment, trips. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Only purchase the items that you know you will be using.

You should also save with your consumption of electricity, gas and water as these are areas that you may not notice you are overbudgeting but usually you are. For instance, ironing clothes piece by piece and not by bulk consumes more electricity. The same goes with leaving the door open when the airconditioning unit is turned on. Always make sure that you turn off the TV after watching it or to be sure, purchase a unit that has a programmable on and off button that you can use. There are also airconditioning models and heaters that you can buy that have this feature.

3. Don’t panic

Economic recession as mentioned to you is a cycle and usually it will have an end. There is no need to feel panicky and feel that all hope is already lost. The more that you feel the panic, the more problems you will have because panic can make you do things without thinking about it or make you so nervous you will be mentally blocked out. So just ride the waves and go with the flow. You’ll never even feel that it’s there.

A recession is characterized by rising unemployment, increase in government borrowing, decrease of share and stock prices, and falling investment.  All of these characteristics have effects on people.

People have a general understanding of the recessions’ negative effects. But how does an ordinary consumer get affected by a recession, employment in  particular is not really clear.

John Schmitt and Dean Baker released a new report on the possible impact of the recession on What We’re In For, Projected Economic Impact of the Next Recession  this year.  In their report, the 2008 recession in United States is perceived to raise the national employment rate between  2.1 and 3.8 percentage points.  This would be an equivalent of  between 3.2 million and 5.8 million unemployed Americans.  CalculatedRisk stated, based on this report and United States’ recession history, that economic downturn can be measured in how high the unemployed number of people rises.

Based from the United States recession history, there had been a handful of times when the unemployment rate has risen during an expansion.  Unemployment had risen by 0.5 percent or and there were instances that it is less.  But this scenarios happen when the country is not under any economic downfall.  When the unemployment percentage reaches 0.6 percent, the economy is described to be under a recession.  This year, the U.S. unemployment rate is nearly 1.1 percent.

Economists, until now have not yet formally labelled the economic downturn of the United States as an economic recession.  Amidst falling home equity, the rising cost of food, health care and housing along with disturbing number of unemployment, economists is still claiming that there is still growth in the economy, even though it is small. People found it unnecessary for a formal announcement to actually feel the recession coming in.

According to Miami Herald, people unemployed are starting get desperate.  The number or people out of work for six months or more increased from 160,000 from July to August.  There are 10.7 percent of people who would like to have a full time job but
are unable to do so.  Due to unavailability of working positions.

It does not matter if you have a college degree under your belt.  College graduates this year are also experiencing the highest unemployment rate since 2004 with 2.7 percent.  Meanwhile, 9.6 percent of high school graduates are unemployed and this figure is  also highest rate since 1996.

Most of the job losses are in the manufacturing sector, which lost 61,000 jobs this year.  In the manufacturing industry, Miami Herald cited 20 percent of job loss even though the export numbers are increasing.

Even though the pay or salary is increasing, a 3.6 percent increase compared to 2007 salary, it is insufficient compared to the fast rate of increase in the prices of primary commodities.  The consumers’ buying power is still low.  Food and beverage costs are 5.8 percent higher than 2007.

For those who were left employed and thanking their lucky stars, there is still a hitch.  Companies are already cutting the health coverage for their employees.  Currently, $694 and $3,281, respectively, according to the most recent data by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Economic recession is an event which is very difficult for everybody.  Hopefully, the real economic status will be recognized immediately to be properly addressed and solve.

Economic recession is actually a term used to refer to the slowing down or downturn of the economy after a period of upturn. You can better picture it with a cycle that often turns. Economy is sometimes rosy and bullish but after a period of progress, it will slow down and become bearish as what they use in the stock market.

The cycle of economy

Often, economic recession is not a problem as the government’s financial sectors have solutions for it. One of the most common is tax cuts where the government gives up a portion of their income and gives it back to the people so that they will have money to buy goods. When consumerism becomes good again, companies who lost a lot of money during the period of downturn and low demand will regain their losses. This will lead to the hiring of new people and increasing their production. More supply in the market will lead to lower prices which will hopefully encourage higher demand for products. Thus, ending the recession.

Easier said than done

It is however easier said than done. Sometimes even with tax cuts, the government cannot balance the economy. This is especially true if the country do not have much budget to augment the situation or if there have been occurrences that are outside their control.

For instance, the problems in the real estate industry and near bankruptcy of a lending firm associated with properties are not exactly brought on alone by economic recession. Problems in the company way way back have contributed to its losses, only aggravated by the current economic situation. The same goes with the problems two major banks in the United States is experiencing right now and also the losses that are beginning to show from the portfolio of a multinational insurance and financial firm.

All these are not all the fault of economic recession. However, what is happening to their company is made much worse by the economic downturn as people will not spend as much. Because of the hard times, some will not also be able to pay their loans or pay off their mortgages like before. If a company has a solid money background, it will not matter as its assets can absorb the losses. Unfortunately, if a company is already suffering from problems even before economic recession can make it bankrupt.

Although economic recession is basically something that happens to a country, individuals are affected not only in the country where it is happening but also worldwide. This is especially true if the company has interest worldwide or the currency is being used all over the world. There is however not much that people can do except take a calming breath and just take one day at a time, hoping it will all come to an end soon.

Women comprises half of the world’s population. During recessions, there is a relative downturn on women’s employment that ever before. Before the United States’ recession  in 2001, women were not greatly affected by the economic recession. However, after the 2001 recession in the United States,  omen started losing a lot of jobs.

Women also experience low employment rates. Families rely on women’s employment to boost the family income during a recession. According to the United States Bureau of  Labor Statistics:

1. When women lose jobs, families lose a substantial share of the income. Women salaries are said to be one third of the whole family budget.

2. Over the past 30 years,  families who have a working wife have seen real increases in family income.

3. During the 2001 recession, women were hit harder by unemployment than men.

4. After the recession of 2001, women were able to get back to their jobs but where unable to gain or experience any increase in their employment rates.

5. Women are said to be harder hit by the 2008 recession since women are disproportionately represented in state and local government services.

Women are also greatly affected by job losses during economic recession. Women are said to be the last person to be hired, but the last person to be fired. Unlike women, men shows stable numbers since United States had experienced the economic recession

Between March 2001 and August 2004, women lost jobs in a number of key industries. Women lost 347,000 jobs in information alone. In retail industries, women lost 367,000 jobs. The biggest lost will be in the manufacturing industry which cost women over a million jobs. These numbers are  just in the United States alone.

Unemployment rate among adult women workers rise faster compared to men workers. From  3.8 percent in March 2007 it went up to 4.6 percent in March 2008. There is also a significant effect on the wage of women compared to men. Women’s wages are more unstable than men’s wages.

Women have the tendency or risk of seeing large drops in income than men do. It has been culturally imbedded (based on gender analysis of events) that women’s income just fill in the disparity of men’s wage in terms of providing for the family. Thus women’s wage not being a major source of funds is more at risk of deduction.

In developing countries, women are facing poverty brought about by economic recession blowing out of proportions. With lack of work opportunities and immense poverty, women are forced to enter into prostitution and white slavery.

When economic recession hit in Asia in mid- 1997, women was the hardest hit by the crisis. Many women who have entered these industries come from rural areas because they could no longer sustain themselves and their families. Because of the recession, a lot of employees were released from their work. Women, carrying the burden of providing for their families were provided no other options.

Southeast Asian countries were deeply affected by the financial crisis and were left with social scars. Whenever economic recession or crisis similar to this happens, women and children bear the scars.

An economic recession is an economic slowdown that happens in two consecutive quarters.  Some economists would say that this is associated with series of events that generally recognized to be “market correction”.  What is this series of events?

An economic recession happens when there is more supply than the actual demand of the product.  This leads to a decline in the gross domestic product.  What happens during economic recession is that it provides a “cooling off” period for creating on new products that will interest the consumers and of necessity.

When compared to agriculture, it is common sense among farmers that the land needs an time interval between the harvesting season and next planting season.  Sometimes farmers would plant a different kind of seed that is known to bring and enrich the land again for the next planting season.  Somehow this applies in financial and trade markets.

Some businesses would see economic recession as the time to reinvent.  Time to innovate and create new products that will create a market hype and again will encourage consumers to purchase goods.  Many businesses who have switched their attention in innovating during economic recessions show high probabilities of succeeding.

Since there is a large selection of products in market trying to capture the unmindful consumers, the period of recession accelerates the quality of products being available in the market.  Since companies are trying to get the consumer’s money, they would likely to produce improved product quality, improved services at lower prices.

Since there are products that would not sell, this would push companies and sellers to inspect their production methods.  This is a good time in filtering out production methods and equipment that compromises the quality, efficiency and speed of creating products.

An economic recession also serves as a wake-up call for everyone to have a balanced spending.  Everyone gets a heads-up about keeping saving accounts updated and saving for any event in the future.  Unfortunately, some people may learn their lesson in the hard way.  There would be some who would be declaring bankruptcy, while in worst cases, there are people who would choose to end their lives.  Economic recession would be a good time to rethink a person’s finances.

Some considerable benefits of economic recession is low housing prices.  Unless, your in the business of selling houses, low prices is not a good news.  However, if you are somebody who is planning on investing and buying a property, a period of recession will help you have the choices that you want.  It is also a good time to look for investment properties.

Housing prices are not the only one who has low prices, company stocks are oven undervalued during economic recession.  A person who is looking for long time stock investment, recession periods would have stocks that are undervalued because a lot of stock holders are more into selling that acquiring stocks.

MarketWatch mentioned other gains from an economic slowdown.  MarketWatch mentioned that this would serve as a wake-up call for overconfident consumers and sellers who are missing out the importance of balancing finance.  And also this would serve as a wake- up call for government to have a stricter finance budget since there will be cutback in the country’s revenues.

Although economic recession is considered a negative event, it is time to turn the negative event into a positive situation.  It is time to wake up.

Remember that the heart of every business is customer service. If you give special treatment to your customers, these people will leave feeling satisfied and always come back. This is something that your employees must understand because if they don’t, these individuals will be the first one to go since you have to cut back on your expenses.

One way of doing that is to reeducate your employees. You can hold seminars on customer service or simply give them a refresher course of the products and services that you are offering because this will impress the customer the moment they walk in through the door.

You should also motivate them because good morale always achieves positive results. Being the owner of the business, you should lead by example by rendering longer hours at work. If they see you are doing whatever it takes to  stay afloat, they will do the same because again, their jobs are on the line and they could be dismissed if things get worse.

Most businesses think that letting people go is always the first option. You don’t have to make the same mistake when these reductions can be made elsewhere as long as quality is not compromised. If you have to buy things, see if you can get longer credit periods or better rates so large expenses can become smaller ones making it easy to manage.

It is always nice to have customers pay in cash but during an economic recession, that is hard for the consumer so if you don’t use a credit card machine yet, now will be a good time to get one. Studies have shown that more people will be able to buy from you using a credit card especially during a time of financial downturn.

The objective of any business is to make money so part of surviving an economic recession will be also to lower your profit margins. By informing your customers of this move, they will be able to buy more at a very reasonable price. You can raise prices again when things get better since such a crisis is only temporary.

Instead of relying on people coming through your door, you can also look at other ways to promote your business. One of the most affordable ones to date is the internet so create your own website. If you can’t do this on your own, hire someone to do it and then make sure that is it both attractive and interactive.

Other businesses are also feeling the crunch and they are also doing their best to stay afloat. Ask around what they are doing and share the same information as well so you will have other ideas and options when the ones you have right now are not working.

We are not yet out of the woods in the recent economic recession. A lot of people are still losing their jobs and their homes, which is why it is important for you to take the steps mentioned rather than doing nothing and hoping for a miracle.

Unlike the four seasons we experience every year namely spring, summer winter and fall, this does not happen annually. The last time we had to deal with this was 8 years ago and during the early 1980’s.

The indicators which the economic experts look at to tell if something is wrong include consumer spending, the unemployment rate, industrial production, real income and wholesale trade. To help stimulate the economy, the Federal Reserve lowers the interest rate.

Unfortunately, this does improve the situation overnight and since it takes months before we are able to see any improvement, we have to do our share to cope with the current situation.

People will have to tighten their belts, which means buying items only when it is necessary. A good example is food since we need this on a daily basis. If there are other companies that offer similar services at a lower rate, it will be a good idea to switch as well.

Another thing most people will need to do is trade in their large vehicles for those that are more fuel efficient. This is not surprising because many have already done so even before the economic slowdown because of the increase in price per barrel of oil.

Businesses on their part have no other recourse but to slash jobs in other to stay in afloat. The bad news is that you just increased the number of people who are unemployed.

So should companies slash jobs? Not really because if the company focuses more on customer service, lowering their price points and making reductions elsewhere, customers will still patronize their business. When the current situation improves, the price of these goods and commodities can go back to where they were before.

Is an economic recession all bad? The good news is no because it opens a lot of opportunities for people who have money. For instance, investors will be able to borrow money at a low interest rate from the bank and people will be able to bonds, properties as well as stocks at very affordable prices.

But this is something that not everybody will be able to do. Instead of saving money, some can make money on the side by offering their skills to others.

An economic recession comes and goes. It does not happen only in the US but in Europe and Asia as well. Many experts believe that the current economic recession happening now will have an impact elsewhere and they are right because the European Union has finally admitted that they are currently experiencing a slowdown.

Since you are not sure if an economic recession will affect you or not, it is best to be prepared by paying close attention to your personal finances. You should learn to save up by putting your money in the back, investing in things that will have good returns in the future and not buying items which you know you can’t afford. If you need help, hire a financial planner to help you out so you are sure that if the inevitable does occur, you are safe.

An economic recession is characterized by weakening business environment where there is low demand and in turn lower production. Most of the time, this results to a high inflation rate, which in lay man’s term is the lowering of the value of one’s money. This happens because of the rising costs of food and other retail items in the country. The same number of items that you can buy with for instance a hundred dollars will not be the same as number of items that you used that with years ago.

An economic recession, when it charges forth without any intervention can wreak havoc in a country’s overall economic health. It can lead to the loss of jobs, closure of businesses and rising costs of living. This is what the United States is currently feeling right now. 2008 has not been a good year for the country with large losses in its real estate industry as well as in other business sectors. Many lost their jobs and had their homes foreclosed because of non-payment of monthly fees. The country is also feeling the burden of skyrocketing oil prices as well as food and living costs.

With the United States as one of the main driving forces of global economy, their slowdown is felt all over the world. Countries which they have business interests have also suffered economic slow downs. The dollar which is being used in transactions all over the world is also weakening, affecting people who have either invested in the American currency or those who use it for their business. Often, in this scenario, those who are in the export business are affected by this as they are given dollars as payment for the products that they manufacture.

But don’t get worried. Although the economic recession may seem hard to deal with, it is not impossible to do. In fact when you really think about it, the whole family can actually do their part in saving during these economic recession times. Here are some ways:

1. Involve the whole family
You are not only one who should be saving during these hard times. Doing this should actually be something that the whole family should be doing. This way, you can be sure that everyone is pulling their weight. Saving as a family will also help keep the family closer in this hard times.

2. Explain the situation
You may not realize it but young children are actually smarter than they let on. When they are given a clear explanation, they will understand the situation and will even act on their own volition. You don’t have to constantly remind them or order them about. Explaining the situation will also allow your kids to feel that they are needed and that they can do something significant for the family. As young as they are, they also like to feel that they are needed.

3. Be a role model
Asking your children and other family members to save up when you are not is a bad way to encourage them. Make sure that you serve as a good role model to them by doing your part and making sure that they see you doing your part in this economic recession.