Graph of the Day: U.S. Unemployment Rates by County, Jan 2007 – Sep 2009

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 31 million people currently unemployed – that’s including those involuntarily working part-time and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. The above interactive map serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 – approximately one year before the start of the recession – to the most recent unemployment data available today.

The Decline: The Geography of a Recession