Great Recession (2008-09). The longest economic downturn since World War II. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that it was the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression.
The unemployment rate, which was 5% in December 2007, peaked at 10% in October 2009.
The financial effects of the Great Recession were similarly outsized: Home prices fell approximately 30%, on average, from their mid-2006 peak to mid-2009, while the S&P 500 index fell 57% from its October 2007 peak to its trough in March 2009.
The net worth of U.S. households and nonprofit organizations fell from a peak of approximately $69 trillion in 2007 to a trough of $55 trillion in 2009.
One triggering event was when the U.S. housing bubble burst in 2005–2012. Housing prices fell and homeowners began to abandon their mortgages, causing the value of mortgage-backed securities held by investment banks to decline in 2007–2008, causing several to collapse or be bailed out in September 2008.
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