Taking the pulse around the UK

As part of Taking The Pulse our correspondents have been giving their views on the effect of the recession in their regions and nations.

Ian Reeve, BBC North East

It has been no great surprise that the recession in the North East has been characterised by job losses.

As names like Corus axe jobs across the region, the outlook is gloomy

A downturn sees jobs go, companies either taking an opportunity to trim costs, or having to make redundancies to stay in business.

What has surprised, though, is the calibre of the companies making those cuts.

Nissan at Sunderland - with the most productive car plant in Europe - let 1,200 workers go.

The chemical sector on Teesside is in disarray with Dow and Croda closing plants at Wilton - the biggest chemical site in Europe.

More could follow.

Steelmaker Corus, also on Teesside, looks likely to mothball its blast furnace, ending nearly 170 years of steelmaking in the area, as well as losing 2,000 workers.

Reputation, history and skills have been no protection in this recession.

Read more about youth unemployment in Hull.

Dave Harvey, BBC West

"It's not over, but we might be past the worst of it". This rather grim remark from a Business Link advisor in Bristol probably captures the state of the west country economy fairly well.

Honda's return has offered the region some hope

Companies continue to lay people off.

Last week the huge lingerie firm Triumph International told 65 workers in Swindon they would soon lose their jobs. And below the radar hundreds of small firms have made redundancies too.

But those seeking green shoots can find them.

Honda is back making cars in Swindon. Recruitment firms say there are now vacancies coming in, albeit they are often temporary jobs as managers are nervous.

And in Bristol's own finance district, accountants say the deal market, which froze in October, has thawed. New investments, management buy-outs, even takeovers are back on the agenda.

But no-one says business is at anything like what it was in 2007.

Read more about green shoots in the West.

Richard Smith, BBC South East

Kent and East Sussex are bit of a paradox.

The economic picture across the South East is not as sunny as it seems

They are typically seen as textbook members of the prosperous family of South East counties.

But dig into the statistics just a little and the picture is not quite so rosy.

Unemployment along the coast - from Dartford, over to Margate, down to Dover and west towards Hastings and Brighton - is high; higher than the South East average, often higher than the English average, and rising more quickly too.

Not perhaps what you would expect from the region which some experts consider to best placed to lead us out of recession.

It is true that construction, manufacturing and transport have been hit hard here.

But Kent and East Sussex still have much going for them economically: large pockets of incredibly low unemployment, proximity to London and mainland Europe, a wide range of industries.

The counties may not share the almost recession-proof qualities of neighbouring Surrey, but they are far from being the greatest victims of the downturn.

Nick Servini, BBC Wales

Wales got hit hard and early in the recession with a wave of manufacturing cutbacks. It's a much more complex picture now.

Flexibility on pay and conditions has helped safeguard jobs

There are opportunities in certain sectors. For example, of the 130 people looking for work after cutbacks at a L'Oreal cosmetics factory, more than 90 have found jobs elsewhere.

Workforces have shown their flexibility up and down the country by accepting pay freezes, short-time working practices and bans on overtime in an attempt to hold on to jobs.

But there are still problems. New cutbacks were announced last week by the steelmaker Corus and an airline seat maker is threatening to cut up to a quarter of its workforce, just six months after a visit from Gordon Brown.

Read more about the tough business decisions facing one family butcher.

Neil Gallacher, BBC South West

Across much of the South West the recession feels like a major threat that has yet to impact fully.

Tourism has helped the region hold off the recession, for now

Unemployment is still below the national average, whereas all through the 1990s places like Cornwall struggled with higher unemployment.

We just do not have the employers that are first to shake out jobs in a recession, such as bank headquarters and car plants.

What is more, our big seasonal industries like tourism are holding back the rise in joblessness at the moment.

That is only temporary though; we know it's coming.

But there is one other mitigating factor.

Tourism is doing unusually well this year due to the daunting strength of the euro and - so far - great weather. If it does turn out to be a barbecue summer, the worst of the recession will not be felt here until the Autumn.

Read more about the construction industry helping to build the foundations of a recovery in the South West.