Chart Data

Employment Fell More Rapidly Than During Prior Recessions

Payroll employment index, 47 months after start of recession, six most recent recessions
Month	Recession period
Month	Nov 1973–Mar 1975	Jan 1980–Jul 1980	Jul 1981–Nov 1982	Jul 1990–Mar 1991	Mar 2001–Nov 2001	Dec 2007–Jun 2009
0 (1)	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
1	100.2	100.1	100.0	99.8	99.8	100.0
2	100.3	100.2	99.9	99.7	99.8	100.0
3	100.4	100.1	99.8	99.6	99.7	99.9
4	100.5	99.6	99.5	99.5	99.6	99.7
5	100.6	99.2	99.2	99.4	99.4	99.6
6	100.8	98.9	98.9	99.3	99.3	99.5
7	100.9	99.2	98.9	99.0	99.0	99.3
8	100.9	99.3	98.7	98.9	98.8	99.1
9	100.9	99.7	98.4	98.7	98.7	98.8
10	100.9	99.9	98.4	98.6	98.6	98.4
11	100.9	100.1	98.1	98.6	98.4	97.9
12	100.4	100.3	97.7	98.6	98.4	97.4
13	99.7	100.3	97.6	98.6	98.4	96.8
14	99.2	100.4	97.4	98.6	98.4	96.3
15	98.7	100.5	97.1	98.7	98.4	95.7
16	98.4	100.5	96.9	98.6	98.3	95.2
17	98.1	100.8	96.9	98.6	98.3	94.9
18	98.3	100.9	97.1	98.7	98.3	94.6
19	98.2	100.8	97.1	98.6	98.4	94.3
20	98.5	100.7	97.3	98.7	98.4	94.2
21	99.0	100.6	97.6	98.8	98.2	94.0
22	99.1	100.4	97.9	98.9	98.3	93.9
23	99.5	100.1	98.3	99.0	98.2	93.8
24	99.7	99.7	98.7	99.0	98.0	93.7
25	100.1	99.7	98.4	99.2	98.0	93.7
26	100.8	99.6	99.6	99.2	98.0	93.7
27	101.2	99.3	99.9	99.4	98.0	93.8
28	101.5	99.2	100.3	99.5	98.0	94.0
29	101.8	99.0	100.7	99.7	98.0	94.4
30	101.8	98.6	101.2	100.0	98.1	94.2
31	101.9	98.4	101.7	100.2	98.2	94.2
32	102.1	98.2	102.0	100.1	98.2	94.2
33	102.3	97.9	102.4	100.4	98.3	94.1
34	102.5	97.8	102.7	100.6	98.4	94.3
35	102.6	97.7	103.1	100.8	98.5	94.4
36	103.0	98.0	103.5	101.1	98.7	94.5
37	103.3	97.9	103.7	101.2	98.9	94.5
38	103.6	98.1	104.1	101.4	99.1	94.7
39	104.0	98.4	104.4	101.7	99.2	94.9
40	104.5	98.7	104.8	101.9	99.2	95.1
41	104.9	99.1	104.9	102.2	99.3	95.1
42	105.4	99.6	105.2	102.5	99.4	95.2
43	105.9	99.2	105.3	102.6	99.7	95.2
44	106.3	100.5	105.7	103.1	99.8	95.3
45	106.6	100.8	105.9	103.4	99.9	95.4
46	107.2	101.2	106.2	103.7	100.0	95.5
47	107.6	101.6	106.4	104.0	100.1	95.6
Footnotes: (1) Month 0 is the month the recession started. Employment level equals 100 at start of each recession.

BLS Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009

Chart Data

Employment Fell More Rapidly Than During Prior Recessions

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