The Great Recession is the U.S. recession that the National Bureau of Economic Research dated from December 2007 to June 2009.
It followed the collapse of the U.S. housing boom, rising mortgage defaults, severe financial stress, and a contraction in credit. The downturn spread internationally through interconnected banks, markets, trade, and investment flows.
The recession was unusually deep and was followed by a slow labor-market recovery. U.S. real GDP fell, unemployment rose to 10 percent in October 2009, and millions of homes entered foreclosure during the broader housing and financial crisis.
The NBER dates U.S. recessions using a broad assessment of economic activity rather than a single rule such as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP. The Great Recession is distinct from the Great Depression of the 1930s.