But things got a lot worse before they got better. For the first time since World War II, unemployment broke 10 percent in November 1982 (reaching 10.8 percent). By the time Reagan left office in January 1989, it was back down to half that. The first 18 months of Bush’s presidency saw unemployment steady at just over 5 percent.
What was the unemployment rate in the 1990’s?
Shortly after launching the first Gulf War in 1990, the U.S. fell into a recession, with GDP falling 0.1%. Although inflation trended down about 2.5 percentage points to 3% during the first Bush’s years, unemployment ticked up to 7.4%.
