US President George W. Bush makes a statement about the economy outside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington March 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

The Labor Department has reported that US employers cut their payrolls by 63,000 in February, the biggest job reduction in five years, reinforcing a widening view that the US economy is falling into recession.

"Among economists and politicians, the debate is shifting to how deep the downturn will be and how to ease it," said a report in Saturday's Wall Street Journal.

Many economists had earlier said that the labor market, while weakening, did not indicate an economic recession, the journal reported, but many changed their views following the government report to agree that the US economy is already in a recession.