A brief history of U.S. unemployment

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/us-unemployment-rate-history/

 

 

A brief history of U.S. unemployment

The United States has experienced 11 recessions since the end of the postwar period in 1948. The federal government has tried various methods over the years to turn around recessions and push back unemployment, including stimulus spending and tax cuts.
David B. Sicilia, associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, is an expert on American business and economic history. Here he looks back at the unemployment rate since the federal government began tracking unemployment more than 60 years ago and what the government did, if anything, to ease it.

Post-World War II

Stagflation

Reagan/Bush

Clinton

21st Century

Roll over each dot on the charts to see that year's average unemployment
and click on the era-labels to see an in-depth view of that time period.

Post-World War II

Stagflation

Reagan/Bush

Clinton

21st Century