Present Economy Comparable to the Great Depression?

I won't go into great detail primarily because I haven't done the requisite research, but one little factoid caught my attention last night and provided some perspective regarding the state of our present economy.

During the great depression the unemployment rate in the USA was almost 30%. Read that again - 30%, 3 out of every 10 people of working age were without a job (compared to just under 10% today). That number does not take into consideration unreported unemployed individuals or workers in under-paying jobs, a prevalent reality during the depression era. It's possible that 40-50% of the population either earned no income or earned insufficient income to support themselves or their families. What a startling thought.

Has our economy been under great duress? Yes. Have people lost their homes and jobs at alarming rates? Yes. Does any accurate comparison with times past require in-depth evaluation beyond 'simple' unemployment rates? Absolutely.

Individuals and communities are suffering terribly in this present financial state. But, on a national scale, does an equivalency truly exist with the great depression? I don't believe that to be true -- not yet.

(Picture from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)