With the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, February marked the end of the US's longest economic expansion in history and entered a recession.
So said the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, in a statement issued on Monday.
The designation was expected, but was remarkably swift, coming a mere four months after the recession began.
The committee usually takes far longer.
According to Reuters, US gross domestic product fell at a 5.0% annualized rate in the first three months of the year.
The unemployment rate rose from a record low of 3.5% in February, hitting 14.7% in April and 13.3% in May.
The outcome for the April to June period is expected to show an even worse annualized decline of perhaps 20% or more.
