60 years of unemployment

This Chart from the St. Louis Fed is interesting to look at how the current recession's unemployment rate compares to previous recessions (shown in gray). Currently, it appears to be in line with prior periods of high employment and off the peak experienced in the 1980's.



I find it interesting how the recessions always see a big immediate spike in unemployment and then it takes years from the peak to get the unemployment levels back down. It's also worth noting that this data does not include "discouraged workers" or the "underemployed".