Economists are split over whether today's GDP figures will rise or fall.

The data for the March quarter will be released at 10.45am.

A decrease would mean the country was in a technical recession that quarter.

But Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon says when it comes to recession, you need to take the broader view of whether the economy is running below par.

He says there's still a very low unemployment rate - only point two percent above its record low.

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