The chart below shows this relationship. The NBER-designated business cycle contraction periods are indicated by the gray bars, while the red line indicates, in thousands of jobs, how many non-farm payroll jobs were created or lost in the last three month period. We can see that the last time this dipped below zero was right after the 9/11 attacks, which put a serious dent in our economy. Before that, the indicator dipped below zero in the recession which started in the year 2000.
The NBER doesn't usually designate a contraction period until months after the fact.
Gibbons Burke is editor of MarketHistory.com.
