It’s official, reports from the Associated Press indicate that a panel of the National Bureau of Economic Research said the U.S. economy fell into a recession last year.

The NBER says its group of academic economists who determine business cycles met and decided that the U.S. recession began in December 2007.

Many economists believe the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009 and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-82 recession.