The Decline: The Geography of a Recession

Updated: April 8, 2011, at 4:30 pm

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According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 28 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those

Left Out: The Real Unemployment Rate

In an economy plagued by historic unemployment and long-term joblessness, it’s probably safe to say you’ve seen them. You may even know one of them.

They are the former lawyers now forced to work part-time behind the McDonald’s food counter. They are the once successful, award-winning journalists that have been out of a job so long, they’re convinced they’ll never get back to work.

They are the “discouraged” and the “underemployed.” Other often-used terms include the “marginally attached” or “involuntary part-time.”

If you only listen to mainstream media reports, you might not realize just how many of these workers actually exist. Furthermore, just how bad the current economic situation really is.

Let’s take a moment, shall we…

What a last six months it’s been. I feel like I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants since the launch of “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession” last October. Who would’ve thought a simple email from my boss, who first shared the map with co-workers and a few close friends, would amount to all of this? And to think this all started as a quick, passing thought while completing an assignment at work, which then spawned into a final project for graduate school.

Over the last few months,