YCHART OF THE DAY: It’s Housing, Stupid – Without Construction Jobs, Unemployment Isn’t Budging

US Unemployment Rate Chart by YCharts

Sure, we have a booming tech sector in the U.S., with companies like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) leading global competitors. And our heavy industry, led by the likes of Caterpillar (CAT) and General Electric (GE), has recovered nicely from the recent slump. But there’s nothing like home construction to sop up the last few million available workers, many of them low-skilled. With the latest recession caused in part by the excesses in housing – and housing finance – home building is largely absent from this recovery, and therefore joblessness remains appallingly high. Government efforts to get housing unstuck have to date been either halfhearted, or ineffective.