Chart assignment
Charts to read and discuss
Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.
Chart 1 of 2 · Companies
How much cash do the biggest U.S.-listed companies hold?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
Of the 25 largest U.S.-listed companies by revenue, JPMorgan Chase held the most cash at the end of its latest fiscal year: $343 billion. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase hold much of theirs as money deposited at the Federal Reserve and other banks. Among the others, Amazon held $86.8 billion and Berkshire Hathaway $52.6 billion, while Home Depot held $1.39 billion. This is cash and cash equivalents on each company's balance sheet on the last day of its latest fiscal year; it leaves out longer-term investments such as Treasury bonds, which many of these companies hold much more of.
Questions to discuss
- In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
- Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
- Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR company financial data (XBRL) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Mar 31, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 2 · World
What is the unemployment rate in each country?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In 2025, 4.2% of workers in the United States were unemployed, against 4.8% worldwide; the highest rate was 34.2% in Eswatini, and the lowest 0.1%, in Qatar. Search 182 countries and territories. These are the International Labour Organization's estimates, which count people without work who are looking for it and fill gaps where a country runs no regular survey, so they can differ from a country's own figures.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the share of a country's workers who have no job and are looking for one, estimated by the International Labour Organization. The dashed line is the world. People who aren't looking for work, such as students and retirees, aren't counted as unemployed at all.
Questions to discuss
- Is the United States above or below the world rate, and by about how many percentage points?
- A country can have low unemployment while many people earn very little. How is that possible?
- Why would someone who has given up looking for work not count as unemployed? Does that make the number more or less useful?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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