Conventional wisdom says that employment at small firms declines more than employment at large firms during recessions. However, that doesn’t seem to have been the case during the Great Recession of 2007-09.

Economists focus on certain indicators that might signal when one business expansion ends and the next one begins.

"Although the current recession may.. be the longest in the postwar period, it is by no means certain that it will be the deepest, but it's increasingly looking that way."