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This Animated Map Shows U.S. Unemployment Over Time (1990-2016)

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U.S. Unemployment Over Time (1990-2016)

When we are talking about the unemployment rate as a barometer for the health of the economy, it’s most commonly the national figure that gets referenced.

Historically, on a national level, an unemployment rate in the 4-6% range is generally considered “good”, while higher rates that fall within the 8-10% range are “bad”. Higher rates are usually only seen during times of recessions or crisis, when people around the country are struggling to find work.

But, as you’ll see in today’s animated map, unemployment rates at the regional level are a very different thing. Today’s map, which comes to us from FlowingData, shows the disparity of unemployment rates in the U.S. based on county estimates, and how they have their own ebbs and flows.

The Impact of a Crisis

The most noticeable element of the animation is the “spread” of unemployment as a crisis hits.

For reference, here’s the map during 1999 – which is around when income peaked for most Americans.

1999 Unemployment in the United States

Now here’s a map of the country during the height of the Financial Crisis in 2009. The “spread” of unemployment catches up to people in even the most economically isolated states.

2009 Unemployment in the United States

It goes to show that even people in largely rural counties couldn’t stay isolated from a crisis that originated on Wall Street. While it doesn’t affect them immediately, eventually the “creep” of unemployment hits their counties as well.

One interesting exception to note here is North Dakota. With discoveries in the Bakken, and the fracking boom in full flight at the time, the state recorded the lowest rates of unemployment during the crisis.

Today, while the oil boom has slowed because of a lower price environment, it’s true that unemployment is still relatively low at 2.8% in the state.

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Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?

We visualize the recent performance of the Magnificent Seven stocks, uncovering a clear divergence between the group’s top and bottom names.

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Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In this graphic, we visualize the year-to-date (YTD) performance of the “Magnificent Seven”, a leading group of U.S. tech stocks that gained prominence in 2023 as the replacement of FAANG stocks.

All figures are as of March 12, 2024, and are listed in the table below.

RankCompanyYTD Change (%)
1Nvidia90.8
2Meta44.3
3Amazon16.9
4Microsoft12
5Google0.2
6Apple-6.7
7Tesla-28.5

From these numbers, we can see a clear divergence in performance across the group.

Nvidia and Meta Lead

Nvidia is the main hero of this show, setting new all-time highs seemingly every week. The chipmaker is currently the world’s third most valuable company, with a valuation of around $2.2 trillion. This puts it very close to Apple, which is currently valued at $2.7 trillion.

The second best performer of the Magnificent Seven has been Meta, which recently re-entered the trillion dollar club after falling out of favor in 2022. The company saw a massive one-day gain of $197 billion on Feb 2, 2024.

Apple and Tesla in the Red

Tesla has lost over a quarter of its value YTD as EV hype continues to fizzle out. Other pure play EV stocks like Rivian and Lucid are also down significantly in 2024.

Meanwhile, Apple shares have struggled due to weakening demand for its products in China, as well as the company’s lack of progress in the artificial intelligence (AI) space.

Investors may have also been disappointed to hear that Apple’s electric car project, which started a decade ago, has been scrapped.

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