The same question keeps repeating itself in the minds of the employee, the unemployed, the consumer and the business manager – when would the economy recover? There’s no straight answer to that puzzle – at least, not yet. The entire system seems to be in a “Wait and Watch” mode, as the economy unravels new patterns and all predictions remain no better than speculations. However, there have been signals emanating from different sources about the health of the economy and about how long it may take before the economy rises back to its pre-recession levels.

To be sure, unemployment rates still reign supreme in the economic equation with multiple variables. The US and the UK have a high number of people who have had to settle for part-time jobs, unable to land full time positions at a time when companies are still unsettled in their outlook of the future of the economy. However, the finance ministries in India as well as the Central Banks in UK and the US have made it clear that the time is too early to take the foot off the gas. So, it would take an extended period of similar stimuli, if not more, before the economy can be left to its own.

Citadel Broadcasting Files for Bankruptcy: The corporate sector, on the other hand, is definitely in a much better shape than what it was a few months ago. While that is a reason to cheer, the problem is that there are still organisations that lay off people and those who are still filing for bankruptcy protection. Citadel Broadcasting Corp, the US based broadcaster that has its operations in some of the major US cities, has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, attributing its failure to the drop in advertising revenue.

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway: Meanwhile, Warren Buffet, the master of shares and stocks, has disclosed that a total of 21,000 jobs have been axed from his organisation, Berkshire Hathaway, since the recession started taking its toll on businesses. Mr Buffet is a man in the know of things, who is capable of making the market follow his ways with astute decisions – and he predicts that his company would employ more people than what it had before the recession, three years from now! That comes from the horse’s mouth, and Mr Buffet wouldn’t think of hiring as many people as the pre-recession era, till it’s 2012. Well, there’s a message in his statement for everyone out there, looking for some light at the end of the tunnel.