Skip Navigation
Conor Clarke

Conor Clarke - Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. More

Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism, an economics blog that was recently published in book form by Simon and Schuster. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. He is also on Twitter.

How Google Does Unemployment Data

By Conor Clarke
Apr 29 2009, 4:55 PM ET Comment

Google has a cool new feature that lets you play around with publicly available data. Search for "unemployment rate" and the top result should be a tool that lets you compare changes in unemployment around the country. You can, for example, graph the total US rate and compare it to the rate in a few counties in Michigan, home of the American auto industry:



Picture 1.jpg (The US rate is 9.1%; in Wayne County -- which has Detroit -- it's 14.6% and in Oscoda County it's 22.3%.)

The feature seems pretty limited so far -- I can't find anything other than the unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and population data from the Census -- but the BLS has tons of data on productivity and compensation that would be wonderful to have too. (And I am certainly in favor of having a new place from which to steal graphs and charts.)

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Why Bradleegate Matters: Woodward and Bernstein's Deception Bradleegate: Woodward and Bernstein's Deception
Why Joe Biden Needs to Stay Why Joe Biden Needs to Stay
Go Midwest, Young Man: Indiana's Plan to Steal California Jobs Indiana's Plan to Steal the West Coast's Technology Jobs
Go Small: Why Washington Must Give Up the Illusion of a Grand Bargain Why Washington Must Give Up the Illusion of a Grand Bargain
Photos of a Clandestine Gay Rights Rally in Tehran In Tehran, a Clandestine Gay Rights Rally

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Earthquake in Northern Italy

May 22, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)