section_path: Impact by region or country/Americas/United States
section_name: United States
paragraph_text: United States
  
  The National Bureau of Economic Research, considered the arbiter of recession declarations, found the United States recession began in February 2020 and ended roughly two months later, in April 2020, making it the shortest recession on records dating to 1854.
  
  Before the pandemic, there were signs of recession. The US yield curve inverted in mid-2019, usually indicative of a forthcoming recession.
  
  Starting in March 2020, job loss was rapid. About 16 million jobs were lost in the United States in the three weeks ending on 4 April. Unemployment claims reached a record high, with 3.3 million claims made in the week ending on 21 March. (The previous record had been 700,000 from 1982.) The week ending 28 March, however, unemployment claims set another record at 6.7 million and by 13 May, new claims had topped 35 million. On 8 May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a U-3 unemployment (official unemployment) figure of 14.7%, the highest level recorded since 1941, with U-6 unemployment (total unemployed plus marginally attached and part-time underemployed workers) reaching 22.8%.
  
  For individual states, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the highest U-3 unemployment occurred in April 2020 in Nevada (30.1%), Michigan (24.0%) and Hawaii (23.8%), levels not seen since the Great Depression. This was followed by Rhode Island in April (18.1%), Massachusetts in June (17.7%), and Ohio in April (17.6%). By December 2020, unemployment rates for the highest three states were recovering: Nevada (9.2%), Michigan (7.5%), and Hawaii (9.3%), with seven other states having recovered to below 4.0%. However, a high percentage of those gains may have been part-time work, job gains in May 2020 were reported to be 40% part-time.
  
  Restaurant patronage fell sharply across the country, and major airlines reduced their operations on a large scale. The Big Three car manufacturers all halted production. In April, construction of new homes dropped by 30%, reaching the lowest level in five years.
  
  Approximately 5.4 million Americans lost their health insurance from February to May 2020 after losing their jobs.
  
  The St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index increased sharply from below zero to 5.8 during March 2020. The United States Department of Commerce reported that consumer spending fell by 7.5 percent during the month of March 2020. It was the largest monthly drop since record keeping began in 1959. As a result, the country's gross domestic product reduced at a rate of 4.8 percent during the first quarter of 2020.
  
  The largest economic stimulus legislation in American history, a $2 trillion (~$ 2.32 trillion in 2023) package called the CARES Act, was signed into law on 27 March 2020.
  
  The Congressional Budget Office reported in May 2020 that:
  
  The COVID recession increased wealth and racial inequality. According to a study, the pandemic drove 8 million Americans into poverty between May and September 2020. On 30 July 2020, it was reported that the U.S. 2nd quarter gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 33%.