Nearly 3 1/2 Years of 8%+ Unemployment Rates

On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

When President Obama took office, the US economy was in shambles. The housing market was collapsing, the national unemployment rate was spiking, credit markets were tightening and consumer confidence was evaporating.

When President Obama took office, there was a real hope in the hearts of many that the country would be able to quickly rebound from the calamity that was the financial meltdown. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be the case, as the US economy continues to struggle to this day.

The United States is currently in the midst of a string of 41 consecutive months where the national unemployment rate has been at least 8%. With the economy currently creaking and wobbling, there is not much hope that we'll see a sub-8% unemployment rate anytime soon.

The last time that there was an unemployment rate of less than 8%? That would be January 2009, when the country posted a jobless rate of 7.6%.

Since January 2009:

February 2009 - 8.1%
March 2009 - 8.5%
April 2009 - 8.9%
May 2009 - 9.4%
June 2009 - 9.5%
July 2009 - 9.4%
August 2009 - 9.7%
September 2009 - 9.8%
October 2009 - 10.2%
November 2009 - 10%
December 2009 - 10%

January 2010 - 9.7%
February 2010 - 9.7%
March 2010 - 9.7%
April 2010 - 9.9%
May 2010 - 9.7%
June 2010 - 9.5%
July 2010 - 9.5%
August 2010 - 9.6%
September 2010 - 9.6%
October 2010 - 9.6%
November 2010 - 9.8%
December 2010 - 9.4%

January 2011 - 9%
February 2011 - 8.9%
March 2011 - 8.8%
April 2011 - 9%
May 2011 - 9.1%
June 2011 - 9.2%
July 2011 - 9.1%
August 2011 - 9.1%
September 2011 - 9.1%
October 2011 - 9%
November 2011 - 8.6%
December 2011 - 8.5%

January 2012 - 8.3%
February 2012 - 8.3%
March 2012 - 8.2%
April 2012 - 8.1%
May 2012 - 8.2%
June 2012 - 8.2%

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides us with unemployment data that goes back to 1948.

The last time that the country had a stretch of unemployment rates anything close to what we experiencing now was in the early '80s, when the country was dealing with a nasty bout of stagflation that came as a result of spiking oil prices.

In November of 1981, the national unemployment rate topped 8.0% and remained above that level for 27 months. In February of 1984, the unemployment rate came in at 7.8%, breaking the streak.

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Any guesses as to when the national unemployment rate will finally fall under 8%?

Source: Historical Unemployment Rates

Filed under: The Economic Meltdown