The Recession of 1960–1961 was a

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. According to the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

the recession lasted for 10 months, beginning in April 1960 and ending in February 1961. The recession preceded the third-longest

economic expansion An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP. The explanation of fluctuations in aggregate economic activity ...

in U.S. history, from February 1961 until the beginning of the

Recession of 1969–1970 The Recession of 1969–1970 was a relatively mild recession in the United States. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research the recession lasted for 11 months, beginning in December 1969 and ending in November 1970, following an econ ...

in December 1969—to date only the 1990s and post-financial crisis (2009-2020) have seen a longer period of growth. The

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

had started to tighten

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to control either the interest rate payable for very short-term borrowing (borrowing by banks from each other to meet their short-term needs) or the money supply, often a ...

in 1959 and eased off in 1960. During this recession, the

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often ...

of the United States fell 1.4 percent. Though the recession ended in November 1960, the unemployment rate did not peak for several more months. In May 1961, the rate reached its height for the cycle of 7.1 percent.Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...

. Retrieved on September 19, 2009

See also

References

Further reading