Slate has a pretty cool dramatization of the unemployment trends in the United States. Click here to go to their site to watch the animated graph. I have an image copy of the last page below. I think the graph does a great job of showing the impact of the collapsing real estate bubble and auto industry.  Too bad the administration appears to be asleep at the wheel.

The economic crisis, which has claimed more than 5 million jobs since the recession began, did not strike the entire country at once. A map of employment gains or losses by county tells the story of how those job losses first struck in the most vulnerable regions and then spread rapidly to the rest of the country. As early as August 2007, for example””several months before the recession officially began””jobs were already on the decline in southwest Florida; Orange County, Calif.; much of New Jersey; and Detroit, while other areas of the country remained on the uptick.

An interactive map of vanishing employment across the country. – By Chris Wilson – Slate Magazine