Mon, September 20, 2010
The Great Recession: December 2007 to June 2009
It's official. The National Bureau of Economic Research, which decides such things, announced today that the Great Recession ended last June.
In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity. Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month.
At 18 months, this was the longest recession since World War II, so it seems that economists were right when they starting calling it the “Great Recession.” Because of the time lags involved in getting accurate economic data, it took a year for the committee to declare that the recession had started, and even longer to confirm that the economy had bottomed out.
The committee’s examination of gross domestic product, unemployment, industrial activity, and other signs of economic health indicate that the economy is at least expanding now, even though many Americans remain out of work. I hope to attend the New England Economic Partnership’s fall meeting to get a better idea of how New England is faring.
