Year	Unemployment Rate (December)	Notable Factor or Event
			1929	3.20%	Market crash
			1930	8.70%	Smoot-Hawley
			1931	15.90%	Dust Bowl
			1932	23.60%	Hoover’s tax hikes
			1933	24.90%	FDR’s New Deal
			1934	21.70%	Depression eased
			1935	20.10%	N/A
			1936	16.90%	N/A
			1937	14.30%	Spending cuts
			1938	19.00%	FLSA started minimum wage
			1939	17.20%	Drought ended
			1940	14.60%	U.S. draft
			1941	9.90%	Pearl Harbor
			1942	4.70%	Defense spending tripled
			1943	1.90%	Germany surrendered at Stalingrad
			1944	1.20%	Bretton Woods
			1945	1.90%	World War II ended; minimum wage: 40 cents
			1946	3.90%	Employment Act
			1947	3.60%	Marshall Plan negotiated
			1948	4.00%	Truman reelected
			1949	6.60%	Fair Deal; NATO
			1950	4.30%	Korean War; minimum wage: 75 cents
			1951	3.10%	Expansion
			1952	2.70%	Expansion
			1953	4.50%	Korean War ended
			1954	5.00%	Dow returned to 1929 level
			1955	4.20%	Unemployment fell
			1956	4.20%	Minimum wage: $1
			1957	5.20%	Recession
			1958	6.20%	N/A
			1959	5.30%	Expansion
			1960	6.60%	Recession
			1961	6.00%	JFK takes office; minimum wage: $1.15
			1962	5.50%	Cuban Missile Crisis
			1963	5.50%	LBJ takes office; minimum wage: $1.25
			1964	5.00%	Tax cut
			1965	4.00%	U.S. entered Vietnam War
			1966	3.80%	Expansion
			1967	3.80%	Minimum wage: $1.40
			1968	3.40%	Minimum wage: $1.60
			1969	3.50%	Nixon took office
			1970	6.10%	Recession
			1971	6.00%	Emergency Employment Act; wage-price controls
			1972	5.20%	Ongoing stagflation; Watergate
			1973	4.90%	CETA; gold standard; Vietnam War ended
			1974	7.20%	Nixon resigned; minimum wage: $2
			1975	8.20%	Recovery
			1976	7.80%	Expansion
			1977	6.40%	Carter took office
			1978	6.00%	Fed raised rate to 20% to stop inflation
			1979	6.00%	N/A
			1980	7.20%	Recession
			1981	8.50%	Reagan took office; Reagan tax cuts; minimum wage: $3.35
			1982	10.80%	Job Training Partnership Act; Garn-St. Germain Act
			1983	8.30%	Reagan increased military spending
			1984	7.30%	N/A
			1985	7.00%	Expansion
			1986	6.60%	Tax cuts
			1987	5.70%	Black Monday
			1988	5.30%	Fed raised rates
			1989	5.40%	George H.W. Bush took office; reforms made to address S&L Crisis
			1990	6.30%	Recession
			1991	7.30%	Desert Storm; minimum wage: $4.25
			1992	7.40%	NAFTA drafted
			1993	6.50%	Clinton took office; Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
			1994	5.50%	School to Work Act
			1995	5.60%	Expansion
			1996	5.40%	Welfare reform
			1997	4.70%	Minimum wage: $5.85
			1998	4.40%	LTCM crisis
			1999	4.00%	Euro; Serbian airstrike
			2000	3.90%	Nasdaq hit record high
			2001	5.70%	George W. Bush took office; Bush tax cuts; 9/11 attacks
			2002	6.00%	War on Terror
			2003	5.70%	JGTRRA
			2004	5.40%	Expansion
			2005	4.90%	Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Act; Hurricane Katrina
			2006	4.40%	Expansion
			2007	5.00%	N/A
			2008	7.30%	Minimum wage: $6.55; financial crisis
			2009	9.90%	Obama took office; ARRA; minimum wage: $7.25; jobless benefits extended
			2010	9.30%	Obama tax cuts
			2011	8.50%	26 months of job losses by July; debt ceiling crisis; Iraq War ended
			2012	7.90%	QE; 10-year rate at 200-year low; fiscal cliff
			2013	6.70%	Stocks up 30%
			2014	5.60%	Unemployment at 2007 levels
			2015	5.00%	Natural rate
			2016	4.70%	Presidential race
			2017	4.10%	Trump took office; dollar weakened
			2018	3.90%	Trump tax cuts
			2019	3.60%	Goldilocks economy
			2020	6.70%	Pandemic and recession
			2021	3.90%	Pandemic and recovery; Biden took office
			2022	3.50%	Continued recovery