Running head: Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis: The Great Recession and Unemployment

Alia Dahlan
RC2001 Bret Zawilski

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The most impactful effect of the Great Recession was the high unemployment rates in the
US during and after the economic downturn. The Great Recession: a Statistical Analysis of Its
Effects on Unemployment published in the International Journal of Business and Economics
Perspectives and Unemployment and the Great Recession published by the Federal Reserve
Bank of Cleveland both argue this claim (Tasci, 2011; Zhang, 2015). The International Journal
of Business and Economics Perspectives article is scholarly (and will be referred to as the
scholarly article) because it is a peer-reviewed research article written by members of the
academic community at Georgia Gwinnett College (Zhang, 2015). The Federal Reserve Article is
non-academic (and will be referred to as the non-academic article) because it is in the form of
a magazine article and the federal reserve is a government-affiliated institution that serves the
general public of the US (Tasci, 2011). The scholarly article can be found in the Appalachian
State University library database and the non-academic article can be found by searching for
great recession unemployment on Google. Both sources contain graphs and cite data from
other sources (Tasci, 2011; Zhang, 2015).
The exigence, or gap to be filled, for both articles is similar in that that they need to
know why there was high unemployment during the Great Recession and what circumstances it
fell under. They both contributed to similar discourse and were both in print and online. They are
both fairly recent articles analyzing the Great Recession, which the scholarly article states ended
in June 2009 and the non-academic article states ended in October 2009. Both articles needed to
answer how unemployment changed during the Great Recession and how it affected people.
They also lay the groundwork for more research on the subject to be done (Tasci, 2011; Zhang,
2015). The scholarly article was published on September 22, 2015. It is looking back at the Great
Recession and possibly attempting to prepare the country for future financial turmoil by

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pinpointing which demographics of the US suffered the most in terms of unemployment,

suggesting that they may need more assistance during the next economic downturn. The
researchers divide the US population by geographic region, education level, gender, and race
possibly to recognize who may need more assistance in the future. The scholarly article needed
mathematical proof to show the statistical significance of each variable measured. It used
quantitative data, which is grounded in fact, instead of qualitative data, which can be subjective,
to make its argument (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article was published on November 8,
2011. It was written in the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession when unemployment was
still high, which is relevant because Americans were likely wondering why unemployment was
still high even after the end of the recession. The piece looked at the overall employed versus
unemployed population of America. It used statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to
make points, which gives readers confidence that the articles claims are true (Tasci, 2011).
The audiences of both articles are people who keep up with national news, are interested
in the countrys economic outlook, and want to learn more about current events. Both audiences
are likely a part of the same discourse community. Academics, forecasters, policy makers, and
anyone who needs statistical proof, including numbers, graphs, and demographics, to make
conclusions and decisions about unemployment are likely the audience of the scholarly article
(Zhang, 2015). Academics, people who subscribe to the Federal Reserves publications, people
who work in business, and journalists who trust the Federal Reserve as a source are likely the
audience for the non-academic article. The piece has easily understood charts, simple language,
and asks questions that readers may wonder about. These aspects allow the article to reach a
larger audience because it is easy to comprehend by someone not in the industry (Tasci, 2011).

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Both articles have constraints in that they were both published in print and on the web. As
a result, they both cannot be very long and can be accessed by most anyone on the internet.
Despite this, they both enable the exigence to be addressed. The scholarly article was published
in a journal with length and formatting constraints to fit the academic atmosphere. The authors
also have the responsibility of representing their educational institution, Georgia Gwinnett
College. They have to be completely sure of their findings and use reliable sources. It makes
sense for the article to be published in 2015 because the Great Recession had ended just six years
ago (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article was published in a magazine-type of publication,
which allows for color images to make evidence more clear and requires shorter articles that take
little time to read. This article represents the opinion of the federal reserve, so it had to use
trusted government sources. It was also very timely because the high unemployment was still
occurring when the article was published (Tasci, 2011).
Both articles exhibit a lot of ethos, or credibility of the author, but the scholarly article
has more because it has more contributors and references to other research articles. They both
used labor statistics reported by the US government and both included research. More ethos
allows the articles to have more significance in discourse about unemployment rates during the
Great Recession. The scholarly article included a literature review of previous research on
similar topics that helped determine what needed to be researched and how to conduct statistical
analyses. The four authors are all faculty at Georgia Gwinnett College with research interests in
economics, which is the subject of the article. Miranda M. Zhang is a Professor of Finance and
Economics and Coordinator of Business Science in the School of Business, Stephanie Peppas
is an Instructor of Business Quantitative Analysis in the School of Business, Spero Peppas is a
Professor of Marketing and International Business in the School of Business, and Tyler T. Yu is

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a Professor of Economics in the School of Business (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article
was written by a research economist who works for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland who
specializes in economics. Previously, Murat Tasci was a Teaching and Research Assistant at the
University of Texas at Austin (Tasci, 2011).
Neither article appeals very strongly to pathos because they avoid bias and do not stray
from fact. They both contain a lot of numbers and statistical trends, but few emotions. The
scholarly article uses geographical regions, education level, gender, and race as variables for
unemployment rates, which can insight emotion if one believes that unemployment is not related
to these things. In the introduction, the scholarly article states that One of the most significant
features of the 2007 to 2009 economic recession was the high and, to a certain degree, long
lasting effect of unemployment in the labor market, which is a subjective statement because one
may argue that something else is the most significant feature (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic
article uses questions to probe readers. It opens with If unemployment is the single most
important indicator of the job market's health, the patient is unquestionably sick, which is a
subjective statement. It also uses the phrase the bad news is and includes a survey based on
opinions entitled Households financial situation in 2010 compared with a year earlier where
the responses were better off, same, or worse off (Tasci, 2011). If an article is too
subjective, the audience does not interpret is as fact, but opinion.
In addition, both articles put to use a lot of logos, or reasoning to appeal to the audience.
They both use many pieces of data, historical statistics, and conclude that more research can be
done based on what they found in their research. The scholarly article uses more logos in its
literature review, statistical analysis, and tables. For example, the scholarly article has a table that
shows the difference between unemployment rates of different educational levels is statistically

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significant (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article uses easy-to-read charts and statistics. For
example, the non-academic article had a full-color chart to illustrate the percent change in
unemployment for the Great Recession compared to the average of all post-war recessions
(Tasci, 2011).
Both articles use kairos, or seize the moment for discourse in different ways. They were
both written within 6 years of the end of the Great Recession. The scholarly article seems like it
aims to predict unemployment if there was to be another recession. It provides statistics to look
back on in the event of another recession (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article has more
kairos because it was written while the high unemployment rates were still occurring. The author
was writing about current events and contemplating what to do next (Tasci, 2011).
The arrangements were similar in both papers where they started with an introduction
that stated that unemployment was the worst part of the Great Recession, they both had body
paragraphs to make their arguments, and they both closed with conclusion that call for more
research (Tasci, 2011; Zhang, 2015). The scholarly article had an abstract, introduction, literature
review, research questions and stated hypothesis, methodology, statistical analysis with tables
and equations, conclusions, and references. This allows the reader to see the process the authors
went through to arrive at their conclusions (Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article started with
an introduction to Unemployment and the Great Recession, then sections titled Why
Unemployment Is Still High and Unemployed Feeling Recessions Sting. These sections
answer questions about what was happening with the economy at the time (Tasci, 2011).
Neither article has much style, or artistic expression because they both had
straightforward facts and analysis about the economy, which is standard in the discourse
community of economics (Tasci, 2011; Zhang, 2015). The non-academic article had more color

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pictures, graphs, a stock photo, and the website had different fonts and organization with colors
(Tasci, 2011). Both of the articles used active voice in their delivery, or how they said their
information, which is understandable because they were both published within the last six years
and are talking about recent events. The scholarly article had a more academic tone while the
federal reserve article had a more casual tone (Tasci, 2011; Zhang, 2015).
In the field of finance, most people use similar vocabulary and trust federal reports on the
state of the economy. The unemployment rates discussed in these articles affects how people
spend money and their outlook of the future of the economy. In academia, research on finance
needs a lot of statistical evidence, otherwise it is just another opinion or possible forecast.
Financial analysis depends on predictions and probabilities to be successful. Both articles that
have been examined adhere to these guidelines, but were published in different rhetorical
contexts.

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References
Tasci, M. (2011, November 8). Unemployment and the Great Recession. Retrieved September
05, 2016, from https://www.clevelandfed.org/en/newsroom-and-events/publications/
forefront/ff-v2n03/ff-v2n0359-unemployment-and-the-great-recession.aspx
Zhang, M. M., Peppas, S., Peppas, S., & Yu, T. T. (2015). The great recession: a statistical
analysis of its effects on unemployment. International Journal Of Business And
Economics Perspectives (IJBEP), (1), 44.