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The Economic Policy Institute came out this week with a succinct analysis of the latest unemployment figures, as well as comparisons with previous recessions.
While the current unemployment rate - 9.5% in June - is not at an historical high, it has increased much more rapidly during this recession than in other post-war recessions. Table 1 shows the unemployment rate at the start of each recession over the last 50 years along with the unemployment rate 18 months later. The unemployment rate increased 4.5 percentage points in the first 18 months of the current recession, a far steeper increase than any of the previous recessions. In particular, in the eighteen months after the beginning of the deep recession of 1981/1982, the unemployment rate increased only 3.2 percentage points. In other words, while the unemployment rate was higher during the early 1980s than it is today, it was also much higher going into the recession. U.S. workers in the early 1980s saw a smaller increase in unemployment than what workers are experiencing today, and unemployment that peaked after 17 months and then began decreasing, unlike today's recession, where unemployment is still rising after 18 months.
Read their analysis, study their charts and graphs, and hear EPI analysts present their findings to the media.