Counting counties

Slate crunches the numbers (the US Labor Department's county-by-county employment figures, in this case) and comes up with an interactive graphic showing job gains and losses from January 2007 to February 2009:

The economic crisis, which has claimed more than 5 million jobs since the recession began, did not strike the entire country at once. A map of employment gains or losses by county tells the story of how those job losses first struck in the most vulnerable regions and then spread rapidly to the rest of the country. As early as August 2007, for example—several months before the recession officially began—jobs were already on the decline in southwest Florida; Orange County, Calif.; much of New Jersey; and Detroit, while other areas of the country remained on the uptick.

Using the Labor Department's local area unemployment statistics, Slate presents the recession as told by unemployment numbers for each county in America.

When did your county's jobs disappear? An interactive map of vanishing employment across the country (Chris Wilson, Slate)

A couple of still screenshots that do not do the animation justice:


January 2007


February 2009