While Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn suggests that the worst of the recession might be over, the impact of the economic catastrophe is likely to last for some time. With unemployment figures increasing, people are unlikely to feel more secure.

Former Federal Reserve chairman and senior economic adviser to President Obama Paul Volcker says the economic recovery is still some way off and that it's going to be one long hard slog.

The reality is that the fundamentals of housing, consumer demand and corporate investment need to show signs of improvement before we know the worst of the recession is over. Otherwise, the pick up in markets that we have seen lately is just a sucker's rally. And besides, even when things start to recover, governments in the US, Britain, Australia and elsewhere will need to rein in their deficits. And that will mean tax hikes and cuts in spending which will slow down any recovery.

Is the worst of the recession over? It will take many quarters before we know the answer.