The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.2% in January 2001, peaking at 6.3% in June 2003 and reaching a trough of 4.4% in March 2007.
After an economic slowdown, the rate rose again to 6.1% in August 2008 and up to 7.2% in December 2008.
From December 2007 when the recession started to December 2008, an additional 3.6 million people became unemployed.
And, as of January 1, 2009, his last month in office, the nation lost 655,000 jobs, raising the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent, the highest level in more than 15 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_policy_of_the_George_W._Bush_administration#Unemployment