Chart of the week: This isn’t your dad’s recession.

Some media outlets have taken to calling our current economic woes “The Great Recession.” Anytime people lose their jobs and businesses close, it causes family and community hardship — recession or not. But how does this recession really stack up against others in recent memory?

To shed some light on that question, following are “apples-to-apples” comparisons of job loss and unemployment during previous and current recessions in Washington State.

The first chart shows Washington’s unemployment rate during the 1990, 2001 and 2007 recessions, starting three months before each recession began (“-3”) and continuing through the 16 months following (through April 2009 of this year):

unemployment-comparison-april-09The second chart covers the same time period, but indexes job loss to 1 to allow for comparison across recessions. The beginning of recession is set as the standard: 100% employment, and every other month is then expressed as the percent of employment in relation to that base month.

job-loss-comparison-april-09

(Data courtesy of the Economic Policy Institute.)

  • Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More To Read

January 29, 2025

Who is left out of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act?

Strengthening job protections gives all workers time they need to care for themselves and their families

January 17, 2025

A look into the Department of Revenue’s Wealth Tax Study

A wealth tax can be reasonably and effectively implemented in Washington state

January 13, 2025

Meeting the Moment: EOI’s 2025 Legislative Agenda

This session, lawmakers must pass multiple progressive revenue solutions to fund the programs and services that help make Washington communities affordable