What was the unemployment rate at the start of the Great Depression? When did unemployment reach its peak during the Depression? What was the highest level of unemployment during this era?.

The highest rate of U.S. unemployment was 24.9% in 1933, during the Great Depression. Unemployment remained above 14% from 1931 to 1940.

Graph of U.S. Unemployment Rate, 1930-1945 The unemployment rate rose sharply during the Great Depression and reached its peak at the moment Franklin D. Roosevelt took office. As New Deal programs were enacted, the unemployment rate gradually lowered.

The lowest unemployment rate recorded in this period was 1.4% in 1890 and the highest was 10.2% in 1892. In 1911 a compulsory national scheme of insurance against unemployment was introduced. This meant there was a significant change to the way data on the unemployed was collected.