More (and better) Unemployment Indicators

In addition to the monthly job growth numbers, I felt it would be nice to give some greater detail of unemployment through this recover. First, a couple graphs showing the increase in long term unemployment.

And last, a graph of the best unemployment indicator, the Employment to Population Ratio. It is presented as the number of people 16 and older employed over the number of people 16 and over multiplied by 100. The benefit is that, unlike the unemployment rate, people leaving the labor force doesn't make the statistic look better. Most OECD countries have an upper age limit, which is smarter. Retiring baby boomers would bring down the ratio all else remaining constant (notice that the ratio was decreasing slowly before the recession hit). 

So the reality is slightly better than the graph would initially indicate.