The official US Unemployment Percentage Rate.
The average number of weeks a job seeker is unemployed.
The percentage of people in the Civilian Labor Force who are working.
This statistic helps to keep track of workers who are 'discouraged' and no longer included in the official unemployment rate.
This statistic shows that there never really was any recovery after 2001, that the appearance of growth was ephemeral, all a bubble spun by the Fed and the Banks and the Bush Administration.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
"Senators disturb us by reminding us of the possibility of large numbers swarming from China; but the answer to all this is obvious and very simple. If the Chinese come here, they will come for citizenship or merely for labor. If they come for citizenship, then in this desire do they give a pledge of loyalty to our institutions; and where is the peril in such vows? They are peaceful and industrious; how can their citizenship be the occasion of solicitude?"
Senator Charles Sumner, 1870