Truly frightening statistics

When I first quickly read a comment in
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/01/the-employment.html#comments
referring to the percent increase in part-time workers since last Dec., I thought it was 7+%, bad enough, but we are in a recession, so not astonishing. After reading a response, I realized it was a 73.7% increase, truly incredible and frightening.

The following is non-seasonally adjusted figures from
http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab5.htm
(Of course, comparisons between the same months in different years is by definition seasonally adjusted)

So the figure for Dec. 2007 is 4,750,000
For Dec. 2008, 8,250,000

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DOL Seal U.S. Department of Labor
Photos representing the workforce
www.bls.gov

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Data extracted on: January 9, 2009 (4:29:15 PM)

Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

Series Id: LNU02032194
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Employment Level - Persons At Work 1-34 Hours, Economic
Reasons, All Industries
Labor force status: Employed
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Hours at work: 1 to 34 hours
Reasons work not as scheduled: Economic reasons
Worker status/schedules: At work part time

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
1998 4299 4042 4011 3649 3602 4033 4025 3508 3112 3086 3159 3455 3665
1999 3815 3594 3703 3316 3281 3641 3537 3238 2948 2832 3045 3332 3357
2000 3574 3343 3360 3064 3171 3400 3308 3151 2893 2874 3287 3302 3227
2001 3732 3481 3394 3163 3315 3977 3725 3326 3835 4035 4125 4467 3715
2002 4564 4514 4225 4018 3942 4251 4352 4249 3929 3965 4160 4385 4213
2003 5135 5061 4784 4609 4409 4798 4870 4377 4455 4394 4682 4833 4701
2004 5270 4764 4868 4411 4427 4623 4648 4395 4073 4407 4398 4516 4567
2005 4903 4487 4514 4150 4171 4600 4578 4402 4230 3915 4067 4183 4350
2006 4597 4403 4097 3787 3968 4456 4450 4104 3735 4010 4054 4281 4162
2007 4726 4417 4384 4205 4315 4469 4516 4494 4137 4028 4374 4750 4401
2008 5340 5114 5038 5071 5096 5697 6054 5736 5701 6267 7135 8250 5875