Unemployment Viz: Who Is Responsible?

With Donald Trump's inauguration only a few days away, America is in wait-and-see-mode for just about everything. What will happen to healthcare? What will happen to the economy? What will domestic race relations look like? What will international relations look like? The list is too long to enumerate fully.

In this viz, I wanted to explore the economic health of the country under different presidents by specifically looking at changes in the unemployment rate. Under which presidents and political party has unemployment risen? Who's economy policies seem to have the most positive (or negative impact)? How long does it take for a president to make an impact on the unemployment rate?

I created the viz below to help explore and answer some of those questions. Or at least provide some directionally related and interesting data :). In particular, I tried to quantify a few things:

• What was the economic legacy of each president? In other words, in this context, did unemployment go up or down in a president's final 2 years in office. I've dubbed a bad change (unemployment going up) as a "headwind". Conversely, I've dubbed a good change as a "tailwind".

• How good (or bad) was the economy that each president inherited? Who walked into office in great shape, with a strong "tailwind" at their backs? Who was fighting a losing battle from the start against a strong "headwind"?

Play around with the viz below and see what you learn! There are some interesting nuggets around who really is responsible for making unemployment better or worse over the years...