WASHINGTON - The US Federal Reserve said Tuesday that the pace of the country's economic recovery remained slow in recent months, and the labor market conditions continued to be weak.

Revised governmental data for 2008 through 2010 indicated that the recent recession was deeper than previously thought and that the level of real gross domestic product (GDP) had not yet attained its pre-recession peak by the second quarter of this year, said the central bank.

"Private nonfarm employment rose at a considerably slower pace in June and July than earlier in the year, and employment in state and local governments continued to trend lower," the Fed noted in minutes released on Tuesday of a Federal Open Market Committee ( FOMC) meeting held earlier this month.

Some members of the FOMC, the central bank's interest-rate policy making body, pushed for a more aggressive response to the economic slowdown at the meeting.