the last year of bush's second term was dominated by the great recession. gdp declined in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters of 2008 by -2.7%, -1.9% and -8.2%, respectively. the recession officially lasted from december 2007 to june 2009, with the economy returning to consistent growth in q3 2009, although civilian employment did not return to its december 2007 peak until september 2014.