The economy has been growing for years where in the year 2000 the unemployment rate hit 4%. Which has been the lowest in three decades. Although through most of the 2000s people who were already poor became poorer through the years. Some people refer the 2000-2010 as a "lost decade". In 2009 there is a major spike in the unemployment rate from 5.8%(2008) to 9.3% in 2009. This was caused by major job loss in the US.