GE reported today that its 2009 third quarter net earnings were $2.5 billion, down 44 percent from the third quarter of 2008. Its healthcare unit, GE Healthcare, experienced a 20 percent drop in profits.

The Technology Infrastructure group, which includes GE Healthcare, saw an 8 percent decrease in its earnings.

Specifically, GE Healthcare saw a 9 percent drop in revenues for the third quarter of 2009, taking in $3.8 billion compared with revenues of $4.19 billion in the previous year-ago quarter. The company reported that healthcare profits were $508 million in the 2009 third quarter, compared with $634 million in profits for the 2008 third quarter—representing a 20 percent downturn.

The global economic environment is beginning to slowly recover, according to GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “We continue to execute on our plan at Capital Finance, perform well in a slow-growth industrial environment and strengthen the balance sheet with strong cash generation. We are aggressively controlling costs, [and] increasing our industrial backlog.”