GDP Sees Biggest Drop Since Recession

Gross Domestic Product fell 4.8 percent during the first quarter, which reportedly the first quarterly decline since 2014 and the biggest drop since the first quarter of 2008, when it dropped 8.4 percent.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says that the decrease was due to stay-at-home orders imposed around the country due to the spread of COVID-19.

“This led to rapid changes in demand, as businesses and schools switched to remote work or canceled operations, and consumers canceled, restricted, or redirected their spending,” according to a bureau statement. “The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the GDP estimate for the first quarter of 2020 because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified.”

The bureau will release its revised figures for the quarter on May 28.

Read the full GDP report here.