Just How Bad is 6% Unemployment?

1994 6.1%

1993 6.9%

1992 7.5%

1987 6.2%

1991 6.8%

1986 7.0%

1985 7.2%

1984 7.5%

1983 9.6%

1982 9.7%

1981 7.6%

1980 7.1%

1978 6.1%

1977 7.1%

1976 7.7%

1975 8.5%

1961 6.7%

1941 9.9%

1940 14.6%

1939 17.2%

1938 19.0%

1937 14.3%

1936 16.9%

1935 20.1%

1934 21.7%

1933 24.9%

1932 23.6%

1931 15.9%

1930 8.7%

1922 6.7%

1921 11.7%

1915 8.5%

1914 7.9%

1911 6.7%

1899 6.5%

1898 12.4%

1895 14.5%

1896 14.4%

1895 13.7%

1894 18.4%

1893 11.7%

"Nixon accepted the priority of the inflation problem, but
he was allergic to unemployment. This became clear to me
when I first met him in December 1968, on the day he announced
my appointment as member of the Council of Economic
Advisors. He asked me what I thought would be our main
economic problems, and I started, tritely, with inflation. He agreed
but immediqaately warned me that we must not raise
unemployment. I didn't at the time realize how deep this feeling
was or how serious its implications would be. He attributed
his defeat in the 1960 election largely to the recession of that
year, and he attributed the recession, or at leeast its depth and
duration, to econopmic officials, 'financial types,' who put
curbing inflation ahead of curing unemployment. But in this
attitude Nixon was not alone. He was certainly in tune with
the conventional wisdom that the country valued continuous high employment above price stability."

Herbet Stein, Presidential Economics (1985), p. 135.