The edges of other catastrophes

The previous graph from the House Speaker's office compared this US recession with only the last two. This one, from Macquarie's Rory Robertson, compares it with earlier recessions as well (and does it in terms of the proportion of jobs lost, rather than the number:


This recession, while harder on jobs than the last two recessions, is tracking the behaviour of the early 1980s recession - we hope. But it could yet destroy jobs like the late 1950s and late 1940s recessions.

(The Weatherman points me to a neater, more political version of this graph.)