U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 25%
August 1932. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 25% in August of 1932. This startling increase came less than three years after the rate reached 0.04% in August 1929.
Although the unemployment rate got almost as low as 10% in 1937, it rose to 20% less than 12 months later. The unemployment rate did not fall below 10% until February 1941.