The Associated Press analyzed nine economic recoveries since the Great Depression that lasted at least three years. By most measures,…
| The Associated Press analyzed nine economic recoveries since the Great Depression that lasted at least three years. By most measures, the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 is the worst. Never before have weak government spending and investment been such a drag on the economy after a recession ended. |
| Here is the change in spending and investment by the federal, state and local governments from the quarter in which a recession ended to the quarter three years later. |
| Recession Percentage change in government spending and investment in the three years after a recession |
| 1948-1949 +69.1 percent |
| 1953-1954 -0.7 percent |
| 1960-1961 +12.7 percent |
| 1969-1970 -3.4 percent |
| 1973-1975 +2.4 percent |
| 1981-1982 +15.2 percent |
| 1990-1991 -1.4 percent |
| 2001 +6.4 percent |
| 2007-2009 -4.5 percent |
