The Biden White House on Tuesday played defense before Thursday’s much-anticipated reading on U.S. gross domestic product, which is expected to show a drop for the second quarter in a row. Rarely has GDP shrunk for two straight quarters without a recession being declared, but the organization responsible for making that call takes into account other factors as well, such as the health of the labor market.
So Biden administration officials have made an effort to make that clear. “As Secretary Yellen said on Sunday, two negative quarters of GDP growth is not the technical definition of recession. It’s not the definition that economists have traditionally relied on,” said top White House economic adviser Brian Deese during a press briefing on Tuesday, referring to remarks over the weekend by Janet Yellen, head of the Treasury Department. Deese, director of the National Economic Council, also said the administration has a goal of “transitioning from a historically strong recovery into a period of more stable and steady growth.” “The totality of the economic data is consistent with that type of transition and is not consistent with a recession,” he added. Read more: A ‘fake’ recession? The U.S. economy is in decent shape for now despite weak GDP And see: The U.S. won’t officially be in recession if GDP shrinks agai …