That is, he colored the state code red if the unemployment rate in April is higher than the national average and black if below that average, and his comments refer to this color coding.

Plus I’m wrong to say that each small multiple displays the deviation from a target band the actual unemployment rates – instead, the target band just helps to highlight how the various rates compare against a static ‘natural employment’ range.

Doh!

You said [A small-multiple version allows the user to focus on specific states, compare them to the normal band, etc. States are ranked by labor force size and, as you can see, in the first row seven out of ten are above the US average in April.] – Actually, these small multiple charts show deviation from a target band i.e. a range encomassing the ‘normal unemployment rate’ – presumably national. This is just a flat, unseasonal, uncyclical average. So these charts do not show deviation from the national average.

I’d actually plot them as deviation from the average – makes for much easier ‘detrended’ comparison of how one state compares to another. I’ve sent an excel 2007 file with an example to you care of this domain.

Regards

Jeff

@Jayson: I played with the vertical strips but the the display was getting too cluttered. Perhaps I’ll try again with a lighter gray.

I should have been more careful since there are no negative values in the data. Try this one.