The graph compares the percentage of work forces which were unemployed

in the US and Japan over one-year period between March 1993 and March
1999. Overall, there are two different trends upward and downward. The rate
of the unemployment in the US fall significantly, while Japan saw a
considerable rise so that at the end of the given period, its figure became
almost identical to the US.
The US unemployment rate stood at 7% in March 93. After that time, the
percentage started to decline until March 98, reaching to 5% and then
leveled off, remaining steadily at 5.
By contrast, Japan had a reverse trend. In March 93, 2.5% of Japanese work
forces were unemployed, but there was an increase from March 93 to March
98, which was doubled and reached to 5%. After March 98, Japan
experienced a constant rate.
In conclusion, despite significant gap between the unemployment rates of
two countries at the beginning of the period, both of them had the same
percentage of unemployed work force in March 1999.