Define: Recession

• a decline in economic activity over a span of a minimum of two quarters (quarter: the year split into 4 sections - used in business to deal with reports, analyses, etc.)
• a recession is usually well reflected in the decrease in GDP ("GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)," "the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period." -wikipedia) which usually means that a drop in business profits and household incomes is occuring; the rise in unemployment and bankruptcies will occur simultaneously.