Comparing This Recession to Previous Ones: Job Changes

The economy lost 54,000 jobs in August, driven primarily by the elimination of 114,000 temporary Census Bureau positions. Additionally, state and local governments eliminated 10,000 jobs last month.

In the private sector, payrolls increased by 67,000 in August, a modest gain over total private payrolls in July.

The chart above shows job changes in this recession compared with recent ones, with the black line representing the current downturn. The line has risen since last year, but still has a long way to go before the job market fully recovers to its pre-recession level. Since the downturn began in December 2007, the economy has shed, on net, about 5.5 percent of its nonfarm payroll jobs. And that doesn't even account for the fact that the working-age population has continued to grow, meaning that if the economy were healthy we should have more jobs today than we had before the recession.

The unemployment rate (measured by a different government survey, and based on how many people are without jobs but are looking for work) was relatively unchanged at 9.6 percent in August, from 9.5 percent in July.

Upon the request of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the chairman of the Federal Reserve suggested a few good reads about financial crises.

How various health-care costs are allotted to which categories is a subject of fierce debate with the sector, and the stakes are high for the public, an economist writes.

Ireland’s financial stability remains highly uncertain, and its problems could ripple through Europe, two economists warn.

A new study out of Sweden finds that women workers are more likely to have babies if their co-workers also recently had babies.

Richer nations have the resources to cope with global warming, an economist writes, but what about the poorer ones?

The greatest year-over-year growth in percentage terms was in Alaska, where revenues shot up 106.3 percent. Elsewhere the picture was not quite as cheery.

Other states should follow New York’s lead and assure that household works have basic legal protections, an economist writes.

The gap in the fatality rate between Hispanic workers and the overall work force had apparently narrowed last year. But why?

A look at the chairman’s choice of words in playing down worries about a “double dip” and explaining what the Fed could do if things got appreciably worse.

Corporate profits were 39.2 percent higher in the second quarter of this year than they were the same period in 2009.

Catherine Rampell is the economics editor at nytimes.com.

David Leonhardt writes the Economic Scene column, which appears in The Times on Wednesdays.

Motoko Rich is an economics reporter for The New York Times.

Michael Powell is an economics reporter for The New York Times.

Steven Greenhouse writes about labor and workplace issues for The New York Times.

Liz Alderman writes about European economics, finance and business from Paris.

Sewell Chan writes about economic issues from Washington D.C.

Jack Ewing writes about European economics and business from Frankfurt.

Economists offer readers insights about the dismal science.

Economics doesn’t have to be complicated. It is the study of our lives "” our jobs, our homes, our families and the little decisions we face every day. Here at Economix, David Leonhardt, Catherine Rampell and other contributors will analyze the news and use economics as a framework for thinking about the world. We welcome feedback, at economix@nytimes.com.

In order to view this feature, you must download the latest version of flash player here. var so = new SWFObject('http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/business/20081008-credit-charts-graphic/credit3.1.swf','nytSWF',337,385,9,'#FFFFFF'); so.addParam('allowScriptAccess','always'); so.addParam('allowFullScreen','true'); so.addParam('BASE','http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/business/20081008-credit-charts-graphic/'); so.addVariable('allowCaching',true); so.write('embed70'); #embed70{visibility:visible !important;}h2.multiHeadline {font-size:156% !important;padding:0px 0px 7px !important;margin:6px 6px 11px 3px !important;border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC !important;}

Introducing

Apture allows readers to dig deeper into a subject without ever leaving the blog post. When you click on any link marked by the icons , , or , you will be able to view video, reference materials, images and other related media. Please e-mail your feedback and thoughts on this feature to apture@nyt.com.

Multimedia Breaking Down the Bailout

An accounting of the government’s rescue package.

How the Government Dealt With Past Recessions

Three economists explain what worked and what didn't.

Geography of a Recession

A map of unemployment rates across the United States, now through January.

Related Article In order to view this feature, you must download the latest version of flash player here. var so = new SWFObject('http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/multimedia/swfs/AS3Multiloader.swf','nytSWF',165,104,9,'#FFFFFF'); so.addParam('allowScriptAccess','always'); so.addParam('allowFullScreen','true'); so.addParam('wmode','opaque'); so.addParam('BASE','http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/us/20090300-economy-user-photos/promos/'); so.addVariable('contentPath','http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/flash/us/20090300-economy-user-photos/promos/163quilty.swf'); so.addVariable('allowCaching',true); so.write('embed443'); #embed443{visibility:visible !important;}

Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.

Special Features The Debt Trap

A series about the surge in consumer debt and the lenders who made it possible.

The Reckoning

A series exploring the origins of the financial crisis, from Washington to Wall Street.

Blogroll Blogroll Barking Up the Wrong Tree Brad DeLong Cafe Hayek Calculated Risk Capital Gains and Games Dani Rodrik's Weblog DataPoints: The Dismal Scientist Blog Econbrowser EconLog Economist's View Greg Mankiw Marginal Revolution Nouriel Roubini's Global EconoMonitor Nudge Raghu Rajan Robert Reich Tax.com TaxProf TaxVox The Baseline Scenario The Becker-Posner Blog The Big Picture Will Wilkinson: The Fly Bottle Blogs From Newspapers and Magazines Andrew Sullivan Ezra Klein Felix Salmon Floyd Norris Freakonomics Free exchange (The Economist) James Surowiecki Megan McArdle Money-Supply (Financial Times) Paul Krugman Real Time Economics (WSJ) Wolf Forum (Financial Times) Economic Resources Employment Statistics GeoFRED: Geographic Federal Reserve Data Historical Data on Job Growth and Wages Historical Unemployment Data Inflation Calculator Interactive Housing Calculator International G.D.P. Rankings Latest Job Market Data Local Gas Prices Statistics on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S. U.S. G.D.P. Statistics Subscribe Economix RSS Tag List DAILY ECONOMIST 448 TAXES 217 UNEMPLOYMENT 209 HEALTH CARE 206 EMPLOYMENT 111 UWE E. REINHARDT 109 EDWARD L. GLAESER 107 HOUSING 107 STIMULUS 107 HEALTH INSURANCE 102 CASEY B. MULLIGAN 93 JOBS REPORT 93 JOBS 88 SIMON JOHNSON 83 WOMEN IN THE WORKFORCE 81 RECESSION 77 NANCY FOLBRE 76 U.S. HEALTH CARE COSTS 69 FEDERAL RESERVE 68 BANKS 66 BAILOUT 65 EDUCATION 65 CHINA 62 BUDGET DEFICIT 62 FINANCIAL CRISIS 62 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS 60 HIGHER EDUCATION 60 CREDIT CRISIS 59 MAP 57 SURVEY 57 Archive Select Month September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Back to Top Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company Privacy Terms of Service Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Advertise Site Map function apture_onload() { apture.addCallback(apture.WINDOW_OPEN, function() { dcsMultiTrack('DCS.dcssip','www.nytimes.com','DCS.dcsuri','/blogs/Apture.html','WT.ti','Apture','WT.z_dcsm','1'); }); } if (typeof NYTD.Blogs.user != 'undefined') { if(NYTD.Blogs.user.isLoggedIn()) { var dcsvid=NYTD.Blogs.user.getId(); var regstatus="registered"; } else { var dcsvid=""; var regstatus="non-registered"; } } var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-4406282-67"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); if((document.referrer).indexOf(document.location.hostname) == -1) { var referrer = document.referrer; } else { var referrer = ''; } document.write('');

Apture allows readers to dig deeper into a subject without ever leaving the blog post. When you click on any link marked by the icons , , or , you will be able to view video, reference materials, images and other related media. Please e-mail your feedback and thoughts on this feature to apture@nyt.com.

An accounting of the government’s rescue package.

Three economists explain what worked and what didn't.

A map of unemployment rates across the United States, now through January.

Faces, numbers and stories from behind the downturn.

A series about the surge in consumer debt and the lenders who made it possible.

A series exploring the origins of the financial crisis, from Washington to Wall Street.

Read Full Article »