After previous economic downturns ended, women held onto the relative gains they had made.

Unlike in previous downturns, however, this time some investors were waiting for it.

In the previous downturn, 2.2 million manufacturing jobs were lost.

In similar periods after ends of the nine previous downturns, the unemployment rate was that low only once.

The policy response has been particularly impressive in comparison to previous downturns.

In previous downturns, layoffs provided a fairly immediate hit to the economy.

Going strictly by the numbers, the most recent recession has been mild in comparison to previous downturns.

"If we go into deep recession, there will be much more protest than in previous recent downturns," he predicted.

To be sure, experts have long described the nation's current recession as one affecting service industries more than previous downturns.

And, he said, the type of space available is different from that of the previous downturn.