A poll of 50 professional economic forecasters showed that they believe that the U.S. economy is in a recession and will contract at a faster pace in the fourth quarter, Reuters reported.

The survey, which was conducted by the National Association of Business Economists (NABE), suggested that increasing job cuts will result in curtailed spending, and the real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to fall 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter; the GDP is expected to decrease another 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2009.

“Business economists became decidedly more negative on the economic outlook for the next several quarters as a result of the intensification of credit market stresses and evidence of spillover to the real economy,” said NABE President Chris Varvares. “Credit conditions continue to be tenuous. Despite the hefty liquidity injections by the Fed and the Treasury, the majority of NABE panelists believe that tight credit conditions will continue.”

Conducted between Oct. 28 and Nov. 7, the survey illustrated that about 96 percent of the NABE forecasters believed that the world’s economic powerhouse was already in a recession, and half of them estimated that the downturn began in the fourth quarter of 2007 or first quarter of 2008.

Furthermore, unemployment is expected to peak at 7.5 percent by the third quarter of 2009; unemployment hit 6.5 percent in October, the highest level in 14 years. Also, automobile sales for 2009 are predicted to decrease to 12.5 million units instead of rising to 14.2 million units, which had been predicted earlier.

Additionally, a Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia survey released today showed that private-sector economists also believe the U.S. economy entered a recession in April and that the downturn will last for 14 months.