What was the unemployment when President Jimmy Carter was in office?

7.5% when he came in.

It went down to 5.8% in the middle of his term and then headed back up 7.5% and finished at 7.2%.

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For Jimmy Carter (January 20, 1977 - January 20, 1981) , the unemployment rate started with 7.5 in Jan'77 and ended with 7.5 in Jan'81. Check the chart and data for the more details at the Related Link below.

On assuming office in 1977, President Carter inherited an economy that was slowly emerging from a recession. He had severely criticized former President Ford for his failures to control inflation and relieve unemployment, but after four years of the Carter presidency, both inflation and unemployment were considerably worse than at the time of his inauguration. The annual inflation rate rose from 4.8% in 1976 to 6.8% in 1977, 9% in 1978, 11% in 1979, and hovered around 12% at the time of the 1980 election campaign. From: (www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Jimmy_Carter_Budget_+_Economy.htm)