Defining the Recession

Background

Jeffrey Coolidge / Getty Images

The New York Times writes there is no official definition of a recession, and no official body to announce when one starts or ends. Still, recessions are often described as two or more quarters of a declining gross domestic product (GDP).

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, non-partisan group based in Cambridge, Mass., does not define a recession based on declining GDP.

“Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.” – National Bureau of Economic Research

The NBER says the latest recession began December 1, 2007 and ended in June 2009.

Latest Posts

Follow this topic

March 6, 2012

House Lawmakers To Consider Restoring Key Medicaid Services

The House Health and Welfare Committee has given unanimous support to a bill that would reinstate key Medicaid services, in the wake of deep cuts last session. “Since the legislation was passed last year, we have learned more about the impact of some of these cuts on certain populations,” Chairwoman Rep. Janice McGeachin (R-Idaho Falls) […]

March 5, 2012

Plan To Reverse Key Medicaid Cuts Gets A Hearing

A ranking House Republican is sponsoring a bill to reverse key cuts in Medicaid services. Rep. Janice McGeachin (R-Idaho Falls) chairs the House Health and Welfare Committee. That committee oversaw the state’s process of reining in Medicaid services as the state’s economy suffered the effects of the downturn. Rep. McGeachin now says lawmakers made one […]

Economy Leaves Few Options For Idaho Teens Who Want, Need Work

The economic downturn hit young people especially hard. Today’s young adults are the “boomerang generation,” given how many have landed back home with parents. For teens, jobs are even harder to come by, and few places are tougher than Idaho. Last year, the state’s teen unemployment rate stood at 30 percent, one of the highest […]

March 4, 2012

For Jobless Teen, Search For Work Is Struggle To Help Family

StateImpact‘s story on teen unemployment will air tomorrow morning on KBSX. Ahead of that story, we’re doing short profiles of a couple of the teenagers who agreed to be interviewed. One of them is Stephen Berry, 18, a senior at Frank Church High School. For Berry, wanting to work isn’t about wanting to earn spending […]

March 2, 2012

January’s Jobless Rate Drops Slightly

The Idaho Department of Labor estimates January’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.1 percent. That’s down from December’s estimate of 8.3 percent. Despite the downward trend, there are still an estimated 63,000 people in Idaho without jobs. Those figures don’t take into account the people who have given up looking for work. Bob Uhlenkott at […]

Lack Of Work Means Fewer Options For One Idaho Teen

StateImpact is reporting on teen unemployment this week, which has meant talking to a lot of school counselors and high school students. We’ll be wrapping their stories into a radio feature early next week, but in the meantime, we’re introducing a couple of the teenagers here. First, meet Igor Autin. He’s a junior at Boise […]

March 1, 2012

A Quarter Of Houses Sold In Idaho Last Year Were Foreclosures

Almost 25 percent of the houses sold in Idaho last year were foreclosure sales. That’s according to RealtyTrac, a company which specializes in housing market and foreclosure data analysis. Last year, foreclosure sales were about 23 percent of all houses sold, nationally. Other western states had among the highest rates of foreclosures sales in 2011. Numbers […]

February 27, 2012

Unemployed Teens Could Face Long-Term Disadvantages

Idaho had one of the highest teen unemployment rates in the nation last year. Nearly 30 percent of 16- to 19-year-old Idahoans were unemployed, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. This week, StateImpact is exploring that rate. After all, unemployed teens aren’t just college-bound high school students who are finding it harder to […]

February 24, 2012

20 Percent Of Working Idaho Households Have “Severe” Housing Costs

A fifth of working households in Idaho spend more than half of their income on housing costs, according to a new study from the Center for Housing Policy. That’s slightly better than the national proportion of working households that have a “severe housing cost burden.” That number stands at 23.6 percent. According to the study, […]

February 21, 2012

As Economy Recovers, High-School Dropouts Fall Further Behind

High-school dropouts are falling further behind, even as the national jobless rate has improved. That’s according to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal. “Some 1.8 million more college graduates have found work since January 2010, when the recovery began producing jobs,” the piece says, “but about 128,000 high-school dropouts lost work in the same […]