It seems that the unfortunate scene of economic slowdown may never end. It has been learnt now that the year 2008 is being made longer by the world's timekeepers, as they add a leap second to the last day of the year.

The Earth too is slowing down along with the economy, and it has persuaded the timekeepers to add an extra second to their atomic clocks to keep in sync with the Earth's slightly slowing rotation. So this means that on December 31st 2008, an extra second will be tacked on after 5:59:59 p. m. and before 6 p. m. Central Standard Time.

The extra second will actually make 2008, that already had an extra day on Feb. 29, the longest year since 1992.

An international consortium of timekeepers made the decision to add an extra second. Geoff Chester, spokesman for the U. S. Naval Observatory in Washington, responsible for one-third of the world's atomic clocks, reported, "World commerce and digital technology depend on to-the-second timekeeping."

He added, "Most cellular phone providers and computer operating systems check with the world's atomic clocks and will automatically add the leap second."

Back in 1972, the world started to add leap seconds, sometimes twice a year. It should be noted that since December 31st, 2005, this is the first leap second and this is the fourth year to have a leap day and a leap second.