Is there any chart to see the unemployment rate in the past 70 years?

Any1? As Bernanke said 9.x% for this long is unheard of, but doesn't that happens at the great depression era?

 

I think the way its been measured over the years has changed, stats wouldn't be relevant.

 

US Unemployment Rate 1890-2008
US Unemployment Duration 1950-early 2011

 

Unemployment in the US in the 1800s is a different beast, as there was plenty of opportunity to simply hop on a horse and head west.

A better historical perspective might be obtained from UK unemployment data from, roughly, 1700-1900.

 

http://www.economagic.com might have something. They are good at charting lots of econ info like this.

 

first of all, Wallace, thanks for the PDF file.



http://www.forexfactory.com/news.php?do=news&id=317838

now I understand what bernanke is saying. The news media mis-lead me. I thought the media said that Bernanke said 10% unemployment for a no. of yr. is unheard of:

"This unemployment situation we have, the jobs situation, is really a national crisis," Mr Bernanke said in response to questions after a speech in Cleveland, Ohio. "We've had close to 10pc unemployment now for a number of years and, of the people who are unemployed, about 45pc have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of."

Turns out it's just a run-on sentence. He meant the 2nd part, the 45% unemployed for 6 mth. or more is unheard of.