Um - try 23 years.

Paul Krugman has a post about the fall in employment ratio to numbers not seen for sixteen years.

Except it's actually 23. And probably more to come.

What does it take?

Right now the world faces a real risk of economic disaster, quite possibly a depression, as a result of a credit bubble set off by insanely low interest rates in 2001-2005. This is no surprise; if you set the price for something (credit in this case) you get overconsumption and efficiency losses; when the item in question (credit) is the most important single element of the economic system the waste has particularly dire results. Now Germany's finance minister blandly observes this obvious fact we are so painfully being reminded of.

And Paul Krugman finds this objectionable?

Seriously, what does it take for economists to accept basic economics? Mad Max?