The economic analyses done by Mort Zuckerman at US News are always laden with cold facts.
Read the article for the prose. Here are the factoids:
- Annual wage increases have dropped to an average of 1.6 percent, the lowest in the past 30 years.
- A Census Bureau analysis indicates that median income in 2011 had fallen to $50,054, the fourth straight year of decline.
- Layoff announcements have risen from a year ago and hiring plans have dropped dramatically.
- 5 million people have now been out of work for 27 weeks or more. That’s roughly 40 percent of the unemployed.
- The average period of unemployment is close to 40 weeks.
- Fewer Americans are at work today than in April 2000, even though the population has grown by 30 million people since then.
- Older people are not leaving the workforce at the same rate as in the past … employment in the age group of 55 and older is up 3.9 million, even as total employment is down by five million.
- The so-called quit rate has sagged to the lowest rate in years.
- Young workers now face double-digit unemployment and job prospects for young workers aren’t very good.
- As a result, the birth rate has just hit a 25-year low of 1.87 births per woman. And
- Of jobs that have been added, more than 40 percent of new private sector jobs are in low-paying categories such as leisure and hospitality, bars, and restaurants
- Millions of people who had good private sector jobs are now dependent on the government for life support.
- Roughly 15 percent of the population, a record, representing over 46 million Americans, are in the food stamp program, compared to the 7.9 percent participation from 1970 to 2000.
- A record 11 million-plus Americans are now collecting federal disability checks. Half of them have come on board since President Barack Obama took office.
Sure doesn’t look like we’ve turned the corner yet.
