Recovery
Plain definition
A recovery is the early stage of an economic expansion immediately following a trough, when output, employment, and incomes begin rising again after a recession. Growth is often rapid at first as idle capacity comes back into use.
In economics
Recoveries are shaped by policy: stimulus spending, low interest rates, and repaired balance sheets determine how fast an economy rebounds. Economists describe recovery shapes by letters — V (sharp bounce), U (gradual), K (unequal, some sectors soar while others lag). A 'jobless recovery' is one where GDP rebounds but employment lags, a common and politically painful pattern.
Example
After the Great Recession trough in June 2009, U.S. GDP recovered steadily, but unemployment stayed above 8% until 2012 — a jobless recovery. In contrast, the post-COVID rebound from April 2020 was unusually fast for output, though employment took until 2022 to fully recover.
Recovery is often confused with full health: an economy can be 'in recovery' while unemployment is still painfully high — recovery only means the direction is up from the trough, not that pre-recession conditions have returned. It is also distinct from expansion: recovery is the expansion's opening act, not the whole phase.