Recession officially ended in June 2009: NBER

Private research group says date marks beginning of an expansion

The "Great Recession" has ended, officially.

At least, that's the official word from the private research organization that calls the beginnings and endings of recessions, the National Bureau of Economic Research. The NBER said Monday that the recession which began in December 2007 ended in June 2009.

That marked the beginning of an expansion, the NBER said, so that any new downturn would be a new recession.

"The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months," the NBER added in a press release on its website.