Jobless claims (basically the official measure of how many people are unemployed in the United States’ economy) has hit the highest level in over 25 years. Luckily, the overall number of people employed/size of the economy has increased over the past two decades so it may not be as bad proportionately. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (source), the economy has increased in size by 115% since 1983. Also, the United States’ population has increased by 34% since 1980 according to Census statistics. Therefore, the actual unemployment rate would still be proportionately less than in the past.

This measure is based upon when people first apply for unemployment benefits and could be a slightly lagging indicator. It seems many companies have been planning for the worst and making sharp personnel cuts. Once the full gambit of large companies have made their adjustment/correctional layoffs, things should hit bottom and we can start growing again.

Let’s hope the second quarter of 2009 has us finding that bottom.