Recovery has been defined downward: Actual GDP and estimates of potential GDP in various years, 2008–2015

Date 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Actual
2006Q2 0 0 0 0 0 0
2006Q3 0.6849 0.6269 0.5938 0.5998 0.6070 0.0891
2006Q4 1.3753 1.2631 1.1943 1.2065 1.2057 0.8725
2007Q1 2.0700 1.9094 1.8034 1.8132 1.7846 0.9349
2007Q2 2.7704 2.5580 2.4221 2.4405 2.3421 1.7074
2007Q3 3.4748 3.2105 3.0398 3.0610 2.8805 2.3914
2007Q4 4.1828 3.8630 3.6518 3.6815 3.3963 2.7568
2008Q1 4.8941 4.5101 4.2483 4.2813 3.8798 2.0556
2008Q2 5.6065 5.1579 4.8400 4.8604 4.3489 2.5621
2008Q3 6.3197 5.7926 5.4135 5.4119 4.7940 2.0700
2008Q4 7.0333 6.4056 5.9632 5.9428 5.2131 -0.0864
2009Q1 7.7461 6.9930 6.4772 6.4254 5.6095 -1.4709
2009Q2 8.4594 7.5393 6.9347 6.8597 5.9572 -1.6039
2009Q3 9.1729 8.0492 7.3660 7.2665 6.2788 -1.2824
2009Q4 9.8871 8.5250 7.7777 7.6525 6.5779 -0.3269
2010Q1 10.6028 8.9628 8.1682 8.0179 6.8502 0.1042
2010Q2 11.3185 9.3766 8.5612 8.3833 7.1142 1.0713
2010Q3 12.0366 9.7827 8.9579 8.7418 7.3714 1.7540
2010Q4 12.7582 10.1934 9.3654 9.1072 7.6279 2.3949
2011Q1 13.4843 10.6289 9.8152 9.5002 7.9063 1.9994
2011Q2 14.2172 11.0931 10.2809 9.9000 8.1745 2.7417
2011Q3 14.9568 11.5867 10.7598 10.3137 8.4495 2.9576
2011Q4 15.7028 12.1121 11.2544 10.7411 8.7362 4.1173
2012Q1 16.4566 12.6716 11.7467 11.1755 9.0339 4.8075
2012Q2 17.2158 13.2598 12.2398 11.6305 9.3637 5.2969
2012Q3 17.9789 13.8774 12.7412 12.0855 9.7156 5.4230
2012Q4 18.7447 14.5230 13.2533 12.5474 10.0894 5.4470
2013Q1 19.5107 15.1894 13.7783 13.0162 10.4995 5.9467
2013Q2 20.2771 15.8814 14.3187 13.4850 10.9329 6.2414
2013Q3 21.0435 16.5990 14.8759 13.9607 11.3781 7.0242
2013Q4 21.8094 17.3383 15.4519 14.4433 11.8300 8.0324
2014Q1 22.5747 18.1016 16.0534 14.9328 12.2710 7.7816
2014Q2 23.3391 18.8843 16.6756 15.4223 12.7072 8.9920
2014Q3 24.1030 19.6801 17.3180 15.9324 13.1420 10.1387
2014Q4 24.8665 20.4845 17.9801 16.4564 13.5748 10.7049
2015Q1 25.6302 21.2904 18.6614 17.0010 14.0028 10.8824
2015Q2 26.3940 22.0948 19.3634 17.5664 14.4273 11.9537
2015Q3 27.1591 22.8961 20.0843 18.1524 14.8532 12.5048
2015Q4 27.9257 23.6904 20.8233 18.7590 15.2846 12.7865

Note: Shaded area denotes recession. Measures of potential output are from forecasts in successive editions of the CBO Budget and Economic Outlook from 2008 to 2016.

Source: Author’s analysis of data from BEA NIPA Table 1.1.6 and the Congressional Budget Office (on potential gross domestic product)

View the underlying data on epi.org.