Bringing home the bacon. Or not. (Three bacon posts in a row. Thank you very much.)

Here's where we're at on unemployment: 9.7% for August 2009. (This is from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.)

And to refresh recollections, here's the projected unemployment graph from the Romer/Bernstein report used to justify the stimulus bill. (This is the third time I've posted this graph. Previous posts on the topic from June 5, 2009 and January 16, 2009.)



I'll leave it to economic historians to say whether the stimulus has helped with unemployment. This much is clear: we have not seen a downward turn to the unemployment rate yet; the report projected that we would see a relatively sharp turn by now. Of course, things may have been worse than was understood when the report issued in January 2009 and the stimulus money may be being spent more slowly than the plan provided.