Unemployment rate under Barack Obama

The share of people who want a job and are looking for one but do not have one — the headline gauge of labor-market slack.

Over 2009-01-20 to 2017-01-19, measured in Percent:

Term average

7.41 Percent

At the start

8.67 Percent

At the end

4.7 Percent

Change

-3.97 Percent

Low

4.7 Percent (2016-11-01)

High

10 Percent (2009-10-01)

Coverage

100% (96 observations)

Reading this series over a presidential term

It rises fast in recessions and falls slowly in recoveries, so a term average and a start-to-end change can tell different stories — a term that begins in a slump can post a large improvement and still average a high rate.

This is the U-3 definition. Someone who gives up looking leaves the labor force and stops being counted as unemployed, which can pull the rate down for a discouraging reason; people working part time because they cannot find full-time work count as employed. It says nothing about pay, hours, or job quality.

These are the observed values over the window above, and nothing more. This site does not say which direction is better, and none of this is a claim that Barack Obama caused the number to move.

What Unemployment rate measures · Barack Obama: the whole record · Chart it · Compare with another president · The source at FRED