The NY Times article associated with this grapic (click on the chart) shows that the US and the EU-15 have essentially the same unemployment rate at this point in time—the first time this has happened in recent memory. A passing fluke associated with this unusually deep recession? Or is the oft-praised US free market model associated with extreme ease in hiring and firing workers not really more effective than European-style democratic socialism? The Times provides an interesting commentary, but in the end, we’ll just have to wait and see.
