One number isn't enough
There's a good piece by the Economic Policy Institute on
why the current labor slump is worse than it looks based on just the unemployment rate. Going back to 1945,
- This slump saw the longest duration of job loss—28 months.
- This slump is the first time in which there was not a full recovery of jobs 31 months after the recession began.
- This slump is the worst in terms of the rise of the unemployment rate (after adjustment for the "missing" labor force) 31 months after the recession began—up 3.2 percentage points.
- The current slump has also been the most severe in terms of the loss of aggregate real wage and salary income 30 months after the recession began—down 1.2%.
It's worth reading the rest. Then you may want to give a couple of bucks to
the Democratic Party, or to
Howard Dean.