The Recession of 2007–2009: BLS Spotlight on Statistics

Different Effects on Different Industries

Percent change in employment, at annual rate, selected industries, six most recent recessions, 1973–2009
Industry	Recession period
Industry	Nov 1973 – Mar 1975	Jan 1980 – Jul 1980	Jul 1981 – Nov 1982	Jul 1990 – Mar 1991	Mar 2001 – Nov 2001	Dec 2007 – Jun 2009
Construction	-10.9	-11.5	-6.2	-11.0	-1.7	-13.7
Manufacturing	-7.8	-10.2	-8.4	-4.7	-9.7	-10.0
Retail trade	0.4	-1.5	-0.3	-2.6	-2.0	-4.5
Financial activities	1.2	2.9	0.7	-0.6	0.9	-3.9
Professional and business services	1.4	1.5	0.5	-2.8	-5.7	-6.0
Education and health services	3.5	3.8	1.9	5.2	3.9	2.2
NOTE: Because recessions vary in length, the percentage changes shown in the chart are each calculated across a different number of months for each recession and then converted to percentages expressed on an annualized basis.