The economic downturn in 2008 ~ 2009 resulted in the loss of jobs and an increase in delinquent loans for housing. In projecting where the real estate market was headed in the coming year, economists studied the relationship between the jobless rate and the percentage of delinquent loans. The expectation was that if the jobless rate continued to increase, there would also be an increase in the percentage of delinquent loans. The data in the 'JoblessRate.xls' show the jobless rate and the delinquent loan percentage for 27 major real estate markets.

Show a scatter diagram of the relationship between the jobless rate and the percentage of delinquent housing loans.

Compute the correlation coefficient. Is there a positive correlation between the jobless rate and the percentage of delinquent housing loans? What is your interpretation?

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