contraction

When business begins to contract, the first manifestation is a decrease in investment that causes unemployment in the capital goods industries; the unemployed are deprived of the cash wage receipts required to make their consumption demands effective. Unemployment then spreads to consumer goods industries.…

…industries, when those industries have contracted or expanded as compared with others. Coal mining and cotton textiles are examples of contraction. The service industries, on the other hand, have expanded: a greater proportion of household expenditure is devoted to services; education has extended; governments have provided more social services. A…