Technically, a "recession" is a scaling back of GDP, but this can be misleading. A nation can maintain a strong GDP thank in part to wars and disasters.
An "economic recession," the measure of some economists, look at other numbers such as employment rates (as you have pointed out), retail figures, industry production levels (broken down by sector) [edit: I see a lot of production losses in your link, from last year to this year], and other things. What have been the recent reports on these things in the U.S.? How do they compare historically? It might be too early to tell. Also, how does the historical record compare to such factors as the mortgage and credit crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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