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Originally Posted by dc_dux
This is not your average recession.
More than 500,000 jobs lost in November - the worst monthly job loss in 34 years.....and nearly 2 million jobs lost for the year.
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To more accurately compare the economic factors used measure the economy, we should look at percentages. In absolute terms big numbers in a big economy should be expected compared to small number in a smaller economy, however the percentage change may be the same or in the same range.
In order to answer the point about this not being an average recession we have to form a baseline of what an average recession is.
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As a result, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits is the highest in 15 years and the increasing in continuing claims was the largest jump since 1974.
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Just for the record, let's put unemployment into perspective. Here is a chart 1970-2008 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Also, there are other unemployment indicators, i.e unemployment duration. In November the average duration was 18.8 weeks, in October it was 19.7 weeks. This could mean that we may start to see a shift down the road a bit. The median (or mid-point) in the data is 10 weeks in November it was 10.6 in October, and 10.2 in September.
Headlines sell newspapers, that is about it.