What was the Unemployment Rate When Obama Took Office? (June Update)

What was the unemployment rate when Obama took office?  7.8%  

Latest Numbers for 2011 through 2014 information HERE!

The following numbers represent June 2011 data.  Current data is found at the links above.

How high did it go? What is it now and how many people are now unemployed?   Keep reading!

Note: Despite the rise in the unemployment rate in June 2011, total number of jobs did increase. Despite the dismay and disappointment and the increase in the unemployment rate, the total number of jobs went up. Stay tuned for further analysis.

The Unemployment Rate when Obama took office:

• For the record, when Obama took office in January 2009, the "official" unemployment rate in seasonally adjusted numbers was 7.8%, with 11,919,000 people reported themselves as unemployed and actively looking. 
• In "raw" numbers not adjusted for seasonal variance, the unemployment rate was 8.5% with 13,009,000 people reporting themselves as unemployed and actively looking for work.

The Unemployment Rate at its Peak: 

• At the "trough" (bottom in terms of jobs) of the recession in late 2009/early 2010, the "official" unemployment rate in seasonally adjusted numbers was 10.1% in October 2009 with 15,612,000 people (out of a labor force of 153,854,000) reporting themselves as unemployed.  
• In "raw" numbers not adjusted for seasonal variance, the unemployment rate reached a peak of 10.6% in January 2010 with 16,147,000 (out of a labor force of 152,957,000) reporting themselves as unemployed and actively looking for work.

The Unemployment Rate Now:

• Now, in June 2011, the "official" unemployment rate in seasonally adjusted numbers is 9.2% with 14,087,000 (out of a labor force of 153,421,000) unemployed. 
• In unadjusted "raw" numbers the unemployment rate is 9.3%.

To Summarize:

• Using seasonally adjusted numbers, the unemployment rate was 7.7% (and rising quickly) when Obama took office, and it is 9.2% today.  
• Using nonseasonally adjusted numbers, the unemployment rate was already 8.5% when Obama took office, and it is 9.3% today. 

(Note:  All of my employment number reports are based on monthly reports and data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Monthly numbers reports are based on the monthly Employment Situation Report.  The Employment Situation report includes month over month and year over year jobs numbers.  My analysis is taken from the monthly BLS data copied to an Excel spreadsheet every month.  I calculate detailed percentage increases/decreases, 3 month numbers, 2011 to date numbers, and I compare jobs numbers to those at the time of Obama's inauguration and at the "trough" of the recession.)