Across the nation, unemployment is up and economic growth is down. It’s what makes a recession — a widespread decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months — more than just a possibility.

A sluggish national economy doesn’t necessarily translate into economic turmoil for the state of Washington. Washington’s economy is actually in an expansion, or a period of economic growth and not even close to a recession, according to USA Today.

“So far, Washington — and particularly the Seattle area — is the one place where recession just doesn’t seem to have hit,” economics professor Richard Startz said.

But a recession could still impact the UW and its students.

In a downward economy, UW students may have difficulties getting student loans, part-time or summer jobs and internships, economics professor Charles Nelson said.

“I think it’s going to be a tough spring,” he said.

And with a recession, the UW’s budget won’t be growing, Startz said.

“Current forecasts are that the state economy will no longer be booming, although perhaps not in a recession, and that means we’re very unlikely to get any real increases in state support,” he said. “The UW budget may not take a hit, but it’s going to be very hard to get much improvement.”

Both Nelson and Startz predict an increase in UW enrollment as a result of recession.

“Students stay in school because it’s not a very attractive time to graduate or it’s a more attractive time to be in college than looking for a job,” Startz said. “So we may discover students take a little bit longer to graduate, [or] we may discover that the number of applications goes up.”

Historically, during a recession, students are also more likely to study things they think will help them get a job, Startz said.

“I would expect economics majors might go up a little bit. English majors might go down some,” he said. “All which is a little bit unfortunate because people should be studying what’s going to prepare them for the next 20 or 30 years, not what they think is going to happen in the next six months.”

Other parts of the country are being hit harder by the downward economy.

The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent last month, while Washington’s unemployment rate has stayed relatively low. The number of unemployed workers in the United States jumped from 434,000 to 7.8 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Mass layoffs continue to happen around the country.

But according to standards set by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the agency responsible for declaring a recession, a recession hasn’t happened yet.

“It’s extremely uncertain,” Nelson said. “Nobody really knows whether a recession will occur.”

Arian Mossanenzadeh, a senior economics and political science major, said he’s expecting the national economy to transition from a recession to an expansion as it has in the past.

“I feel like [recession is] just another part of the cycle in the economy,” Mossanenzadeh said. “I haven’t given it much thought. I’m not very worried. I’m rather optimistic when it comes to the economic cycle.”

Sophomore Kayla Larson said she isn’t very worried about a recession either.

“I worry as much as is appropriate and necessary for my daily apathy,” Larson said. “And as much as is necessary to get from day to day with my bills and my rent and my job and income.”

Startz said the probability that the United States will have a recession is very high should economic trends continue, but should a recession occur, it would be very mild and brief.

“The Seattle economy has held up much better than the national economy,” Nelson said. “We don’t have the slump that many are seeing in the rest of the country. Microsoft is continuing to hire and the real estate market is stronger in Seattle than it is in the nation.”

[Reach reporter Sara Bruestle at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]