The United States economy entered recession in February, ending record expansion

The longest expansion in U.S. history ended in February with the economy falling into a deep recession as the coronavirus pandemic triggered the shutdown of businesses across the country.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the private research group responsible for making such determinations, made the official proclamation on Monday. The bureau declared that a 128-month expansion, the longest on record since 1854, came to a halt in February and the recession also began in that same month.

“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,” the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research said in a statement.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated on Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate hit 3.5% in February, 14.7% in April, and 13.3% in May. The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was down at 4.8% in the first three months of the year.

The U.S. Federal Reserve (FRS) said that they would have a meeting this week and officials would issue new economic projections that illustrate their expectations about the economy’s fast recovery.