This chart — issued Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — isn’t without its critics. You can read a rather spirited discussion of its merits in the comments section over at The Consumerist.

Still, the takeaway is this: The decline in employment during our current recession is deeper and more persistent than at any time since 1974. The horizontal axis depicts months. The vertical axis shows the ratio of that month’s nonfarm payrolls to the nonfarm payrolls at the start of recession.

There are some encouraging signs in the economy, such as the slight dip in unemployment last month compared to the past 60 days (from 10 to 9.7 percent). But the economic recovery, such as it is, remains fairly anemic. All the more reason to be unburdening ourselves of the unnecessary, looking at ways to reduce consumption over the long term, and finding satisfaction beyond the checkout line. The New York Times has more analysis.

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