What's happening with the recession?

For ages people have been talking about money worries and the credit crunch, and then another strange word hit the headlines.

The latest government figures show that Britain's just creeping out of something called a RECESSION.

BUT WHAT IS IT?

Clothes, food, cars... we make and sell loads of things in the UK.

The more we sell, the more money the country makes. When that happens the economy grows.

And for a long time it was all going quite well.

For 16 years Britain's economy either stayed the same, or it grew.

But recently countries across the world have been hit by a cash crisis that people are calling the CREDIT CRUNCH.

What's so scary about the credit crunch?

For ages it's seemed like a big scary monster hanging over us all, but not actually doing anything.

But then official figures in the spring of 2008 showed how badly Britain had been affected.

There was a FALL in the number of things Britain made or sold, like food, cinema tickets and cars.

That meant that for the first time in years, our economy was shrinking instead of growing.

Not long after this, it was announced that the UK was officially in a recession.

Then in January 2010, the Government said the recession was officially over - but the effects of it will last for much longer.

HOW HAS IT AFFECTED PEOPLE?

During the recession, most people didn't have as much money to spend as they used to. BUT even though the recession is over, many people are still feeling the effect.

It takes an economy a long time to get over a recession. So lots of families are likely to have less money for some time to come.

During times like these, it's harder for shops and businesses to make money, and to pay people to work for them.

Lots of people have lost their jobs, and others are still worried about losing them.

WHEN WILL IT ALL BE OVER?

No-one knows for sure.

But some experts say it could be a few years before the British economy, and the British people, have totally recovered.