How Fast Should We Expect Unemployment to Decline?

To go along with the previous post forecasting when a 6.5% unemployment rate could occur, below is some analysis on how fast unemployment typically drops when we are in a period of falling unemployment.  Since 1949 there have been 10 periods of falling unemployment.  On average the unemployment rate falls by about 7 bps per month when it is declining.

Although the "scariest jobs chart ever" which has made the rounds on the internet implies that unemployment is falling at a much slower pace than it has in past cycles, in reality, we're basically in line with the average rate of decline (the unemployment rate just spiked from a lower base than it had in the past.)