Chapter 7 Data Apps

The Labor Market, Wages, and Unemployment

Explore the data of Chapter 7 without any code. Every chart below is live: hover over it to read the values, and use its buttons, menus and sliders to change what it shows.

← Back to Chapter 7: The Labor Market, Wages, and Unemployment

See also: Chapter 7 Model Apps, the chapter’s models without code.

The U.S. labor market in the data

Fig. 1: The U.S. employment-population ratio

Drag the handles of the small chart under the axis to zoom in on a period; the shaded bands are recessions.

Sources. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Employment-Population Ratio (EMRATIO), via FRED; recession dates: NBER, U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, via the FRED recession indicator USREC. Prepared files: data/ch07/fig7-1.csv, data/ch07/recessions.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.1 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 1, men and women: the employment-population ratio by sex

Hover over a line to read its value; women’s ratio rose while men’s fell, and the shaded bands are recessions.

Sources. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, employment-population ratios of men (LNS12300001) and women (LNS12300002), via FRED; recession dates: NBER, U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, via the FRED recession indicator USREC. Prepared files: data/ch07/emp_pop_by_sex.csv, data/ch07/recessions.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.1 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 1, beyond the United States: employment around the world

Pick a region from the menu, then click a country in the legend to add it; hover to read each year’s ratio.

Sources. Data: International Labour Organization, modelled estimates, published in the World Bank, World Development Indicators, Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS). Prepared file: data/ch07/emp_pop_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.1 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 2: The U.S. unemployment rate

Drag the handles of the small chart under the axis to zoom in on a period; every shaded recession brings a jump in unemployment.

Sources. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Unemployment Rate (UNRATE), via FRED; recession dates: NBER, U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, via the FRED recession indicator USREC. Prepared files: data/ch07/fig7-2.csv, data/ch07/recessions.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.2 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 2, beyond the United States: unemployment in 34 OECD countries

Switch between two countries and all lines with the buttons, click a name in the legend to add it, and drag the small chart under the axis to zoom.

Sources. Data: OECD, Main Economic Indicators, harmonised unemployment rates, via FRED, series LRHUTTTT{CC}M156S (for example Germany, LRHUTTTTDEM156S; all the series); U.S. rows: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, UNRATE, via FRED. Prepared file: data/ch07/unemployment_countries_monthly.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.2 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Unemployment around the world

Fig. 7: Unemployment in the United States, Europe and Japan

Move the slider to a year to read the three rates in the title; Europe’s rate rose steeply between 1975 and 1985.

Sources. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Unemployment Rate (UNRATE), via FRED, annual average; OECD, harmonised unemployment rate for Japan (LRHUTTTTJPA156S), via FRED; Europe: euro area of 12 countries, European Commission, AMECO database, unemployment rate (ZUTN), which replaces the textbook’s OECD series. Prepared file: data/ch07/fig7-7.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.7 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 7, beyond three economies: unemployment in 43 economies

Switch between the textbook’s view and all lines with the buttons; click a name in the legend to add or remove an economy.

Sources. Data: European Commission, AMECO database, unemployment rate, Eurostat definition (series <country>.1.0.0.0.ZUTN), 42 countries and the euro area of 12. Prepared file: data/ch07/unemployment_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.7 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

The rising return to education

Fig. 8: College versus high school wages and employment

Hover over the lines to read each year’s values; the college premium and the share of college workers rose together.

Sources. Data: Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America Data Library, from the Current Population Survey: regression-adjusted hourly wage premium of college graduates and share of employment by education. They replace the textbook’s private Acemoglu–Molina series. Prepared file: data/ch07/fig7-8.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.8 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 8, beyond the United States: the college premium in 38 countries

Switch between the United States alone and all lines with the buttons, and click a country in the legend to add it.

Sources. Data: OECD, Education at a Glance, via the OECD Data Explorer, dataflow DF_LSO_EARN_REL_UPPER (relative earnings of full-time workers aged 25–64 with a bachelor’s or higher degree, upper secondary = 100). Prepared file: data/ch07/college_premium_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.8 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 8, beyond the United States: graduates and their premium

Hover over a point to see the country; where graduates are scarce, as in South Africa and Brazil, they earn much more.

Sources. Data: OECD, Education at a Glance, via the OECD Data Explorer, dataflows DF_LSO_EARN_REL_UPPER (relative earnings) and DF_LSO_NEAC_DISTR_EA (share of adults aged 25–64 with a bachelor’s or higher degree). Prepared file: data/ch07/college_premium_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.8 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Manufacturing jobs and income inequality

Fig. 10: U.S. employment in manufacturing

Drag the handles of the small chart under the axis to zoom in on a period; from 2000 to 2010 jobs fell by about a third.

Sources. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, All Employees, Manufacturing (MANEMP), via FRED; recession dates: NBER, U.S. Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, via the FRED recession indicator USREC. Prepared files: data/ch07/fig7-10.csv, data/ch07/recessions.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.10 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 10, beyond the United States: manufacturing employment around the world

Pick a region from the menu, then click a country in the legend to add it; hover to read its share of employment.

Sources. Data: International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT, modelled estimates of employment by economic activity (EMP_2EMP_SEX_ECO_NB_A, manufacturing and total). Prepared file: data/ch07/manufacturing_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.10 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 11: Income inequality in the United States and France

Hover over a line to read the top 0.1 percent’s share of income; after 1980 only the U.S. share rose again.

Sources. Data: World Inequality Database (WID), share of pre-tax national income of the top 0.1 percent, via Our World in Data; WID extends the tax-record series of Piketty and Saez (2003). Prepared file: data/ch07/fig7-11.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.11 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 11, beyond two countries: top income shares in 58 countries

Pick a region from the menu, then click a country in the legend to add it; hover to read each year’s share.

Sources. Data: World Inequality Database (WID), bulk download, variable sptincj992 (pre-tax national income share), percentile p99.9p100 (the top 0.1 percent). Prepared file: data/ch07/top01_share_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.11 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 12: Economic growth by income percentile

Hover over a point to read growth at that percentile; the diamonds are the averages of income groups.

Sources. Data: Piketty, Saez and Zucman (2018), “Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(2), doi:10.1093/qje/qjx043: main data file, sheet TS11(NYT), and the February 2022 appendix tables II, sheet TC3, both from the authors’ Distributional National Accounts page. Prepared file: data/ch07/fig7-12.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.12 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.

Fig. 12, beyond the United States: growth by income percentile in 58 countries

Pick a region from the menu, then click a country in the legend to add it; each point is the growth of one income percentile.

Sources. Data: World Inequality Database (WID), bulk download, variable aptincj992 (average pre-tax national income per adult) at each g-percentile. Prepared file: data/ch07/percentile_growth_countries.csv (see the data notes). Chart: inspired by Fig. 7.12 in Jones (2024), Macroeconomics, 6th ed.