The U.S. economy under President Joe Biden shrank for a second consecutive quarter as inflation continues to surge, meaning that, by some definitions, the economy is already in a recession.

U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate 0.9% in the first quarter of 2022,  according to Thursday data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), underperforming the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg that the economy would grow by a modest 0.4% in the second quarter. GDP fell by 1.4% in the first quarter, and many economists and commentators define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.

The Biden administration has pushed back on the assertion that the economy is in a recession despite the past two quarters returning negative growth.

“At the end of the day the average American family has been going through economic pain for the last 18 months; paychecks are going out the door faster than they’re coming in because of inflation, credit card debt is getting more expensive to service, regular folks can’t afford a home, gas and grocery prices are going up. In my opinion, if you go out and talk to regular Americans it is so blatantly obvious the economy is contracting.” E.J. Antoni, research fellow for regional economics at The Heritage Foundation, told told the Daily Caller News Foundation.