Another fantastic graph from Calculated Risk. Shows all postwar U.S. recessions in terms of percentage of jobs lost according to Labor Department payroll counts, based on unemployment insurance returns. The X axis is the number of months after job losses begin. Today's announced job-loss numbers are incorporated. As you can see this recession is now the third-wost in amplitude, surpassing the (purple) 1981 recession.

But it's really even worse than that. The 1948 recession, which looks worse on the graph, was all about returning to a normal economy after the war. It wasn't pathological in the way this recession is. Rosie the Riveter and hundreds of thousands of other women were leaving the work force to go home and assume traditional female roles. The economy was running at full capacity and then some -- an unsustainable pace. When the war ended it reverted to normal.