Another look at job losses

I've showed this chart before, in an attempt to put job losses in perspective. The chart shows the ratio of weekly unemployment claims to the number of people working (according to the establishment survey). Since the ratio has been falling since March, while total jobs are still shrinking, the chart tells us that the number of people being laid off every week is declining at a faster rate than the shrinkage in jobs. That's part of the healing process, and it is also characteristic of the end of all the recessions shown on this chart. The chart also shows that job losses have not been nearly so traumatic relative to the size of the workforce as they were in the recessions of 1975 and 1980-82.