<P> In the United States , the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research ( NBER ) is generally seen as the authority for dating US recessions . The NBER defines an economic recession as : `` 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 . '' Almost universally , academics , economists , policy makers , and businesses defer to the determination by the NBER for the precise dating of a recession 's onset and end . </P>
<P> In the United States , the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research ( NBER ) is generally seen as the authority for dating US recessions . The NBER defines an economic recession as : `` 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 . '' Almost universally , academics , economists , policy makers , and businesses defer to the determination by the NBER for the precise dating of a recession 's onset and end . </P>
when is the economy considered to be in a recession
when is the economy considered to be in a recession
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
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