Economic Growth and the Unemployment Rate

"A persistently high unemployment rate is of concern to Congress for a variety of reasons,
including its negative consequences for the economic well-being of individuals and its impact on
the federal budget (i.e., deficit growth due to lower revenue and higher expenditures). The
unemployment rate was 9.5% when the economy emerged from the 11th postwar recession in June
2009, and it climbed further to a peak of 10.1% in October 2009. The unemployment rate very
slowly declined in 2010. It settled at about 9.0% during the first three quarters of 2011..."