The COVID-19 Recession (feb 1, 2020 – apr 1, 2020)
Description:
Duration: Two monthsReasons and causes:
The COVID-19 pandemic spread to the U.S. in March 2020, and the resulting travel and work restrictions caused employment to plummet, triggering an unusually short but sharp recession.43 The unemployment rate climbed from 3.5% in February 2020 to 14.7% in April 2020 but was back below 4% by the end of 2021, capped by $5 trillion in pandemic relief spending. In addition, quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve expanded its balance sheet from $4.1 trillion in February 2020 to nearly $9 trillion by the end of 2021, complementing a federal funds rate that remained near zero until March 2022.45
Added to timeline:
Date:
feb 1, 2020
apr 1, 2020
~ 2 months