The government is telling us that the economic stimulus is working and the recession is over. But you wouldn’t know it from looking at the unemployment numbers. While we may have dodged another great depression, unemployment is at its worst since then, having fallen to 10 percent by the Fed’s own reckoning. And, while we don’t like to be the bearers of bad news, we do stand for transparency in reporting statistics. So we’ve produced an animated infographic explaining who gets to call themselves ‘officially’ unemployed, and why the government leaves out millions of jobless Americans in their often cited and repeated unemployment rate statistic. So while the economy may be recovering, it might be awhile before many Americans feel it in their wallets.

Embed the above video on your site
<object width="600" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ulu3SCAmeBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ulu3SCAmeBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="360"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.mint.com/">Free budget software</a> – Mint.com

Embed the above image on your site
<a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/UnemploymentGameShow-1.jpg"><img src="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/UnemploymentGameShow-1.jpg" alt="UnemploymentGameShow" title="UnemploymentGameShow" width="1000" height="1298" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7377" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.mint.com/">Free budget software</a> – Mint.com

The overall unemployment rate currently stands at 7.2 percent, a 15-year high according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each day since the current recession began, in December 2007, the news has been full of reports of job layoffs. Just today the government released a report indicating that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is at its highest level in a quarter of a century, as more workers seek government assistance. Could the news get any worse? It’s all in how you calculate the numbers.

Here is a visual guide to the truth behind the numbers

For more personal finance visualizations see: WallStats.com