Some economists and journalists define a recession as two consecutive quarters in which the gross domestic product (GDP) decreases. The GDP is the value of all the reported goods and services produced by people and institutions operating in a country. An overall decrease in the value of goods and services indicates that demand has decreased in most markets.



The official determination of recession is left to the Business Cycle Dating Committee (no, that is not a relationship service for pencil pushers) at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). It is not a government agency but a private organization that works to further understand the economy. The GDP is not the most important factor they consider. They give more weight to personal income, the national employment rate, sales in manufacturing and trade, and industrial production.

Let's look at an example of an occurrence in an important industry where a crisis caused a ripple effect of slowing down the economy, the travel industry after 9/11.

Confidence in air travel was shaken after the hijackings.

It also made people nervous wherever large groups of people gathered, like big cities, theme parks and other popular tourist attractions.

Many people canceled their flights and other travel plans. The demand for travel dropped dramatically as did the demand for hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related services.

Travel providers all of a sudden had an over abundance of ‘supply'; airplane seats, hotel rooms etc. To try to move the supply they were forced to reduce prices and cut back supply like cutting flights from schedules.

That meant travel providers did not need as many people so layoffs occurred.

The laid off workers cutback their spending. This caused reduced demand for other products contributing to cutbacks in other industries.

The labor force that was not laid worried about being next so they cutback their spending.

The shrinking of the airline industry caused slow downs in other industries, like the providers of the in-flight meals, the hotels where the flight crews stayed, and makers of flight equipment.

This was all played out in the media further shaking workers who had nothing to do with the airlines. They saw the struggling airlines as evidence that the economy in general was slowing down.

Worried they would be the victims of cutbacks they reduced their spending reducing demand in hundreds of other markets.

But you and I don't care about all that. All we know is that it costs more to fill the car's tank; that, because of real estate tax and homeowner's insurance premium increases, the house payment is getting higher; that the grocery budget doesn't seem to buy as much as it did 12-18 months ago. And just when we need it the most, if we have any money saved, it doesn't seem to be working very hard for us. If you work in an industry that tends to reflect an economic slowdown you may be worried about layoffs, cutbacks, or smaller or no raises come evaluation time.

Wouldn't it be nice to know that your income producing work was in an area of the economy that is recession proof?

Keep in mind that there are many variations in each of these industries. But you have some choices; you can work for someone else that is involved in one of these industries, or you can market to people/companies that have ties to these industries, or both. Pick the choice you have the most control over, learn all you can about how to do it while you make money at it (I recommend niche affiliate marketing at first), and never worry again about the state of the economy.