Employment recovery takes successively longer in each new business cycle: Job change since the start of each of the last four recoveries

 

Month 1981 1990 2001 2007
-18  105.6%
-17 105.7%
-16 103.2% 105.6%
-15 103.1% 105.5%
-14 103.0% 105.4%
-13 102.9% 105.2%
-12 102.7% 105.1%
-11 102.4% 104.9%
-10 102.0% 104.7%
-9 102.0% 104.4%
-8 101.9% 101.2% 101.2% 104.0%
-7 101.5% 101.0% 101.0% 103.4%
-6 101.5% 100.9% 101.0% 102.9%
-5 101.2% 100.7% 100.9% 102.3%
-4 100.8% 100.6% 100.8% 101.8%
-3 100.7% 100.5% 100.7% 101.2%
-2 100.5% 100.4% 100.5% 100.6%
-1 100.1% 100.1% 100.2% 100.4%
0  100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
1 100.0% 99.8% 99.9% 99.7%
2 100.2% 99.7% 99.8% 99.6%
3 100.2% 99.8% 99.7% 99.4%
4 100.3% 99.7% 99.6% 99.3%
5 100.7% 99.8% 99.6% 99.3%
6 101.0% 99.8% 99.6% 99.0%
7 101.4% 99.8% 99.6% 99.1%
8 101.9% 99.7% 99.6% 99.0%
9 101.5% 99.8% 99.5% 99.1%
10 102.8% 99.8% 99.5% 99.3%
11 103.1% 99.8% 99.6% 99.7%
12 103.5% 99.8% 99.6% 99.6%
13 103.9% 100.0% 99.5% 99.6%
14 104.4% 100.1% 99.6% 99.5%
15 104.9% 100.1% 99.4% 99.5%
16 105.2% 100.2% 99.3% 99.7%
17 105.6% 100.3% 99.2% 99.8%
18 106.0% 100.4% 99.2% 99.9%
19 106.4% 100.5% 99.2% 99.9%
20 106.8% 100.7% 99.3% 100.0%
21 107.0% 100.8% 99.2% 100.2%
22 107.4% 101.1% 99.3% 100.5%
23 107.7% 101.4% 99.5% 100.5%
24 108.1% 101.3% 99.5% 100.7%
25 108.2% 101.6% 99.6% 100.8%
26 108.5% 101.8% 99.7% 100.8%
27 108.7% 102.0% 99.7% 101.0%
28 109.1% 102.3% 100.0% 101.2%
29 109.3% 102.4% 100.2% 101.3%
30 109.6% 102.6% 100.4% 101.5%
31 109.8% 102.9% 100.5% 101.7%
32 110.0% 103.2% 100.5% 101.9%
33 110.2% 103.4% 100.6% 102.1%
34 110.4% 103.7% 100.7% 102.1%
35 110.6% 103.9% 101.0% 102.2%
36 110.9% 104.3% 101.0% 102.3%
37 111.1% 104.6% 101.1% 102.4%
38 111.2% 104.9% 101.2% 102.6%
39 111.3% 105.2% 101.4% 102.7%
40 111.4% 105.6% 101.5% 102.8%
41 111.6% 105.8% 101.8% 102.9%
42 111.8% 106.1% 101.9% 103.1%
43 111.7% 106.3% 102.1% 103.2%
44 112.0% 106.7% 102.4% 103.5%
45 112.2% 107.0% 102.5% 103.6%
46 112.6% 107.3% 102.6% 103.7%
47 112.8% 107.5% 102.6% 103.9%
48 113.0% 107.7% 102.9% 104.0%
49 113.2% 107.8% 103.0% 104.1%
50 113.4% 107.8% 103.2% 104.3%
51 113.7% 108.0% 103.5% 104.5%
52 113.9% 108.1% 103.7% 104.6%
53 114.3% 108.4% 103.8% 104.8%
54 114.6% 108.6% 103.8% 104.9%
55 114.8% 108.7% 103.9% 105.0%
56 115.2% 108.9% 104.1% 105.1%
57 115.4% 109.0% 104.2% 105.3%
58 115.6% 109.0% 104.3% 105.6%
59 116.2% 109.4% 104.3% 105.7%
60 116.4% 109.6% 104.5% 106.0%
61 116.8% 109.8% 104.6% 106.1%
62 116.9% 110.0% 104.8% 106.3%
63 117.4% 110.3% 104.9% 106.5%
64 117.7% 110.5% 105.1% 106.7%
65 118.0% 110.7% 105.1% 106.9%
66 118.2% 110.9% 105.2% 107.2%
67 118.6% 111.1% 105.3% 107.3%
68 118.9% 111.4% 105.3% 107.5%
69 119.0% 111.6% 105.2% 107.6%
70 119.4% 111.8% 105.3% 107.8%
71 119.7% 112.1% 105.4% 108.0%
72 120.1% 112.4% 105.5% 108.2%
73 120.4% 112.6% 108.4%
74 120.7% 112.9% 108.5%
75 121.0% 113.1% 108.6%
76 121.2% 113.4% 108.8%
77 121.4% 113.4% 109.0%
78 121.5% 113.8% 109.3%
79 121.7% 114.2% 109.4%
80 121.7% 114.4% 109.6%
81 121.8% 114.7% 109.7%
82 122.1% 115.0% 109.8%
83 122.2% 115.1% 109.8%

Note: The line for each recession begins at the official start of the recession, so the length of the line to the left of zero indicates the length of each recession.

Source: EPI analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics public data series

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View the underlying data on epi.org.