« The unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, » the NBER said.
The worst U. S. downturn since the Great Depression is now officially a recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Though it seemed a foregone conclusion, the NBER, the official arbiter of recessions, made the declaration Monday as the nation tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
« The committee recognizes that the pandemic and the public health response have resulted in a downturn with different characteristics and dynamics than prior recessions, » the NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee said in a statement. « Nonetheless, it concluded that the unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contractions.
