NBER, GDP and Jobs Recessions

I've suggested previously that contemporary recessions have distinct GDP and employment components defined by the peak to trough decline in each. I will be updating this page monthly to reflect the status of these components along with the official NBER defined recession. As of May 2010 we are still in an NBER recession.¹ The GDP recession appears to have ended in June 2009 while the jobs recession may have ended in December 2009.² See the charts and table below for more details. NBER recession shown in gray.

Note: As of now I expect the NBER to call the end of the recession no later than December 2009. I've updated recession data throughout the site to reflect this.

GDP Recession

GDP fell 3.83% from peak to trough over a period of 13 months from June 2008 through June 2009.

Jobs Recession

Employment fell by 8,363,000 jobs from peak to trough over a period of 24 months from December 2007 to December 2009.

NBER, GDP & Jobs Recessions

The table enumerates the months of recession for the three different recession types as well as the union and intersection of GDP & jobs recessions.

Date	NBER Recession	GDP Recession	Jobs Recession	Union GDP & Jobs Recession	Intersection GDP & Jobs Recession
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009	•		•	•
November 2009	•		•	•
October 2009	•		•	•
September 2009	•		•	•
August 2009	•		•	•
July 2009	•		•	•
June 2009	•	•	•	•	•
May 2009	•	•	•	•	•
April 2009	•	•	•	•	•
March 2009	•	•	•	•	•
February 2009	•	•	•	•	•
January 2009	•	•	•	•	•
December 2008	•	•	•	•	•
November 2008	•	•	•	•	•
October 2008	•	•	•	•	•
September 2008	•	•	•	•	•
August 2008	•	•	•	•	•
July 2008	•	•	•	•	•
June 2008	•	•	•	•	•
May 2008	•		•	•
April 2008	•		•	•
March 2008	•		•	•
February 2008	•		•	•
January 2008	•		•	•
December 2007	•		•	•
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007