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How high will unemployment go? During the Great Depression, 1 in 4 Americans were out of work

  • Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Questrom School of Business, Boston University
How high will unemployment go? During the Great Depression, 1 in 4 Americans were out of workUnemployed people wait outside a government office in NYC in 1933. AP PhotoHow high will unemployment go? During the Great Depression, 1 in 4 Americans were out of workCC BY-ND

The U.S. unemployment rate climbed from a half-century low of 3.5% to 4.4% in March – and is expected to go a lot higher.

But could the rate, as some predict, surpass the 25% joblessness the U.S. experienced at the peak of the Great Depression?

As a macroeconom...

Read more: How high will unemployment go? During the Great Depression, 1 in 4 Americans were out of work

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