Animated Unemployment Rates by County 2007 – Present

Email this post Print this post
By Barry Ritholtz - November 22nd, 2009, 8:00AM

Fascinating visualization of unemployment in the United States as it progresses over time, from January 2007 to Present.

The animation is monthly by counties:

>

click for animation
US EU by County

>

Hat tip Paul!

UPDATE: Now on YouTube!

8 Responses to “Animated Unemployment Rates by County 2007 – Present”

  1. David Yaseen Says:

    Watching the country turn black as 2009 progresses is indeed sobering. One question: any idea why it shows the unemployment rate as Sept. 09 as 8.5%? That doesn’t tally with any measure I’m familiar with.

    ~~~

    BR: My guess is because the average across counties is different from the national average . . .

    There are vast stretches of land West of the Mississippi, from Texas up to Wyoming and Minnesota, where unemployment is far below the national average, but in Farming/Ranching states that are more sparsely populated. Hence, the average county unemployment is skewed relative tot he national measure.

  2. Marcus Aurelius Says:

    Once again, Sublette County, WY, leads the nation in employment.

  3. uno Says:

    I’m using an organic, Big Blue-style, massively parallel supercomputer to try and figure out how rising unemployment lends itself to inflation instead of deflation…but I keep coming up with the same answer.

    It doesn’t:

    “The grocery consumer price index, which measures what shoppers pay at stores, has decreased 2.5 percent over the past year, “with the fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat groups all posting significant declines,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The food index has declined 0.2 percent since September 2008, the first 12-month decrease in more than 40 years. “

  4. bsneath Says:

    I thought I was watching a preview for The Andromeda Strain.

  5. Steve Barry Says:

    Things are getting better and better…in Northern Alaska.

  6. kmckellop Says:

    Interesting that Nebraska remains unscathed.. .maybe is has to do with Warren (Uncle Sam) Buffett or the fact that Nebraska’s legislature is not allowed to take on debt any more than $100K.

  7. ZenRazor Says:

    Clearly we need to get more people–preferably politicians, if you count them as people–to move into the Great Lakes.

  8. michaeld Says:

    The only way to fix the situation with unemployment is vigorous economic growth. If other countries can grow at 10%, there is no reason why the US cannot do the same.

    We need policies that re-enforce growth. Because fixing unemployment will also fix the real estate issues and the bank balance sheets.

    admin
    http://invetrics.com