The recession’s toll on households and businesses was enormous: between January 2008 and February 2010, we lost 8-3/4 million nonfarm payroll jobs and saw the unemployment rate double, from roughly 5 percent to around 10 percent.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 5 percent between its pre-recession peak in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the trough in the second quarter of 2009; the drop in real disposable personal income was similar in magnitude. In addition, households lost an estimated $ trillion in home equity – half of the aggregate home equity that existed in early 2006.