Wait, layoffs and job growth? What's going on with the economy and is recession still coming?

WASHINGTON — Only a few months ago many economists warned that a recession was not just inevitable, it was around the corner. Inflation would take years to curb. Surging unemployment was on its way.

But a funny thing happened on the way to hard times: The "Big R" for the U.S. economy now looks like it's "Resilience," not "Recession," as economists at Bank of America recently put it.

Instead of showing a slowdown in hiring last month, as normally happens in the prelude to a recession, employers added more than half a million jobs. Unemployment, which rises during a downturn, plunged to 3.4%; it hasn't been this low since the spring of 1969.

Meanwhile, the inflation dragon continued to calm down, dropping to 6.5% from its high last year of 9.1%.

So what's going on?

While recessions are a regular feature of economic history, warnings of imminent trouble are looking exaggerated.

Digging a little deeper, here are some of the questions economists and government policymakers are wrestling with, along