Unemployment Rate From 2005-2008 Higher Than 1926-1929

Many Wall Street analysts and (mostly right-wing) commentators (see “5 Reasons Why Today is Not Great Depression II” for one example) say we are not headed for a repeat of what took place 80 years ago because the unemployment rate is “only” 6.7 percent, around a quarter of what it was during the Great Depression.

But what they conveniently forget to mention is that national jobless totals only began to spike following the crash year of 1929 and were actually fairly steady up until that point. Unemployment did not hit the widely cited peak (on an annual basis, at least) until three - four years later.

Below is a graph showing the annual unemployment rate for the last four years overlaid on similar data for the period 1926 - 1935. While the future trend for this series might not follow the same trajectory as before, the fact that it hasn’t yet hit double-digits is not necessarily a cause for optimism.

(Otherwise, a pessimist might note the fact that data covering the last four years looks somewhat worse than comparable statistics for the period prior to the Great Crash. Perhaps the upside this time around will be greater?)

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Comment by mark

2009-04-10 08:13:36

Where were the massive job losses occurring 2005 - 2008? The media certainly were silent on the issue, why?

Why was the media silent about this massive number of job losses?

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Comment by Steve

2009-06-21 18:45:12

I don’t know? Look at the averages. Currently Calif. 11.9 Florida 10.2 Okay other states right now, not as bad so we can lower that marker down to 8.0 over all. The same as around 1929 going on 1930 and climbing. And so far nothing good is on the horizon. Just as the depression peaked at the end of 1932 and something is predicted for the end of 2012. Now this getting scary!

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Comment by Eric

2009-08-31 22:59:33

In Michigan the “experts” in the newspapers are talking about unemployment numbers of around 16 to 18 % within a year. Last I saw was over 10 % already. The stories also talked about how GM had to crank up quiet assembly lines after the “cash for clunkers” program, but I noticed that of the top ten sellers for that program eight were Japanese or Korean and none were GM. The government sure helped out our Asian friends.

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