According to economic measures the recession officially ended in June 2009, and since then total output in the United States has increased. However the number of jobs is 329,000 lower than it was then. Many analysts say that to stop the unemployment rate from increasing, the economy would need to grow at least 2.5%, much higher than the 1.6% of last quarter. Other measures of recovery are pointing towards good things, but some question calling the recession over with high levels of unemployment, especially when looking at the demographics of who is unemployed. The government said that its statement means that the economy had reached its low point and was reaching back up, not it had reached its previous levels, saying that they had a long way to go before coming back to the high point.
See "Recession May Be Over, but Joblessness Remains", Catherine Rampell, The New York Times, September 20, 2010