U.S. is in the 'shortest' but 'deepest' recession since World War II, Goldman Sachs' top economist says

(Image credit: OHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images)

published 8 June 2020

The U.S. is officially in a recession, but it could be over sooner than any economic downturn before it.

The National Bureau of Economic Research announced Monday that it determined the U.S. entered a recession in February, ending the 128-month expansion that began at the end of 2008 financial crisis. It's an unusually quick conclusion from the nonprofit group that's known for determining economic downturns, but also comes with hope that this recession could be shorter than ones in the past.

Recessions typically last longer than a few months, but the NBER still decided to give the coronavirus downturn this designation after looking at "the contraction, its duration," and how broad its economic effects were, it said in a Monday statement. But despite this slump looking very different from past recessions, "the unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy," lead the committee to call this a recession "even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contraction," the statement said.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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