Two Extremely Ugly Charts About The Current US Recovery

The Minneapolis Fed has compiled a series of interactive charts which allows users to compare U.S. recessions and the corresponding economic recoveries.

In light of this week's unexpected 0.1 percent decline in 4Q GDP and today's less-than-stellar nonfarm payrolls report, it's worth taking a second look at the current recovery compare to other post-WWII recoveries.

Here's employment. It's another way of looking at the "scariest jobs chart ever."

And here's GDP:

The 1980 recovery had a very ugly and pronounced double-dip recession. Still, fourteen quarters in, the 2007 recovery is worse than the 1980 recovery.

From an employment standpoint, only the dot-com jobs recovery lags the pace of the recovery from the 2007 recession.