Answer:
Businesses begin to hire again.
Step-by-step explanation:
Economic recovery is the phase of the economy that follows a recession, during which an economy regains and exceeds peak employment and output levels prior to downturn.
A recovery period is characterized mainly by high levels of growth in real gross domestic product, employment, corporate profits, and other indicators.
Therefore as given in the scenario, ''after several quarters of a severe recession, the reason there might be a decrease in the official unemployment rate is because of growth in employment as businesses begin to hire again.