quarterly gdp al usa.jpg

The chart above shows quarterly change in gross domestic output for the United States and Alabama since the spring of 2005. Quarterly GDP estimates for state economies were published for the first time on Wednesday.

(Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Advisers)

Alabama's economy has gone through three recessions since 2005, based on the broadest definition of the term, while the larger U.S. economy has only seen one such contraction.

A recession occurs when an economy shrinks, or becomes less productive, for six consecutive months. Economists look at quarterly changes in gross domestic product -- total output every three months -- to monitor these trends.

The most recent recession of the U.S. economy began in 2008, and lasted into early 2009. Outside of that window, the nation's economy has more or less been growing in terms of productivity.

But the story is a bit different in Alabama, new data show. On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis posted quarterly GDP data at the state level for the first time. The data covers change in economic output from 2005 through 2013.

Like the broader U.S. economy, Alabama's business output shrank from 2008 to 2009. But there were also two other times when Alabama's economy shrank for two consecutive quarters.

At the end of 2006, Alabama's output contracted, if just barely -- down 0.2 percent annualized, BEA data show. Then at the start of 2007 the state's economy took a significant step back, down 3.4 percent annualized. The U.S. economy grew in both of those quarters.

Alabama's third recession in nine years started at the end of 2010, and ended in the first quarter of 2011, estimates show.

Alabama's quarterly change in total economic output has been larger or smaller than the national rate about half the time since 2005. But while U.S. output has contracted six times, Alabama's economic production has declined twice as many times.

Alabama has seen its total economic output shrink at least once in each year from 2005 to 2013, according to BEA estimates.