Job change since the start of each of the last four recessions

Month 1981 1990 2000 2007
0 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
1 99.96% 99.80% 99.79% 100.01%
2 99.87% 99.72% 99.76% 99.95%
3 99.76% 99.57% 99.66% 99.89%
4 99.53% 99.44% 99.58% 99.74%
5 99.23% 99.39% 99.46% 99.60%
6 98.87% 99.28% 99.27% 99.48%
7 98.86% 99.00% 99.03% 99.33%
8 98.72% 98.86% 98.81% 99.14%
9 98.42% 98.67% 98.68% 98.81%
10 98.37% 98.55% 98.57% 98.47%
11 98.10% 98.64% 98.47% 97.92%
12 97.73% 98.61% 98.46% 97.42%
13 97.56% 98.61% 98.40% 96.84%
14 97.36% 98.64% 98.39% 96.33%
15 97.06% 98.66% 98.44% 95.73%
16 96.92% 98.60% 98.37% 95.24%
17 96.91% 98.63% 98.36% 94.98%
18 97.15% 98.68% 98.31% 94.65%
19 97.07% 98.62% 98.41% 94.41%
20 97.26% 98.67% 98.42% 94.25%
21 97.56% 98.81% 98.30% 94.09%
22 97.86% 98.93% 98.37% 93.95%
23 98.28% 98.99% 98.25% 93.94%
24 98.73% 99.05% 98.09% 93.74%
25 98.40% 99.18% 98.06% 93.75%
26 99.61% 99.21% 98.05% 93.72%
27 99.91% 99.37% 98.06% 93.83%
28 100.29% 99.50% 98.08% 94.01%
29 99.69% 98.05% 94.38%
30 99.97% 98.12% 94.29%
31 100.19% 98.27% 94.25%
32 98.28% 94.22%
33 98.38% 94.18%
34 98.50% 94.35%
35 98.53% 94.45%
36 98.78% 94.50%
37 98.97% 94.55%
38 99.20% 94.68%
39 99.26% 94.83%
40 99.28% 95.06%
41 99.38% 95.13%
42 99.50% 95.29%
43 99.76% 95.37%
44 99.81% 95.46%
45 99.91% 95.62%
46 100.01% 95.75%
47 100.19% 95.87%
48 96.01%
49 96.27%
50 96.43%
51 96.61%
52 96.68%
53 96.76%
54 96.82%
55 96.94%
56 97.04%
57 97.16%
58 97.32%
59 97.47%
60 97.62%
61 97.77%
62 97.97%
63 98.07%
64 98.22%
65 98.36%
66 98.51%
67 98.62%
68 98.76%
69 98.88%
70 99.05%
71 99.25%
72 99.31%
73 99.41%
74 99.57%
75 99.72%
76 99.92%
77 100.08%

Underlying data are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics public data series. Data for each recession are indexed by the number of jobs in the first month of the recession. Monthly data span July 1989–December 2011.

Source: EPI analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics

View the underlying data on epi.org.