COLLEGE PARK, Md., March 7 (UPI) -- Peter Morici, former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission, declared Friday that the U.S. economy is in a recession.

Citing a loss of 63,000 payroll jobs in February after a loss of 22,000 jobs in January, Morici said in a statement, "poor jobs data are the strongest evidence yet that the economic expansion has ended."

"The economy has slipped into a recession of uncertain depth and duration," he wrote.

The government added 38,000 jobs in February, while the private sector lost 101,000. But, "businesses have become too pessimistic," about the government's ability to continue to add more jobs, he said.

The weakening dollar gives a lift to exports, but "not enough to lift industrial production and employment from recession levels," he wrote.