U.S. Budget and Economy: Long-term Unemployment

This blogger is not an economist, a politician or a partisan--he's a math major who collects and charts data. The average and median duration of unemployment have risen to their highest level since 1948 and 1967, respectively. The average has reached 35.2 weeks and the median has reached 25.5 weeks weeks, according to government data. Whatever Obama is doing, isn't working--at least not for the long term unemployed--although some believe he's not spending enough money. All of the durations are starting to trend down except for the longest, those unemployed for 27 weeks and over.

Bush and other presidents also struggled with recessions (gray band in chart), and you can see on Davis' charts where those long term unemployment figures went. We know from both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s, that pushing money at it and more government interference, isn't the solution. FDR led us further, deeper and longer into an economic swamp. Even the threats (promises to redistribute through higher taxes) made by Obama in 2008 frightened investors and rocked the economy.

U.S. Budget and Economy: Long-term Unemployment (updated)