Yeah. It's not pretty out there.
The stores are unusually empty. They used to be packed this time of year.
I’m not as convinced as you are.
I think as more part timers are hired to supplement newly demoted 29ers the numbers really are getting “better”.
Of course as Dave Stockman has written, the number of “breadwinner” jobs peaked in 1998.
“The real number is over 20% unemployed.”
I have it at 40% since many “employed” are not full-time as they were but part timers. Without going back and checking numbers I think I deduced that there are only 27 million full-time salaried workers right now. The rest are part-time or non-salary/hourly, and most of these were people holding 2 or more jobs to get to 40 or more hours per week.
The average household income has dropping under Obama from $54,000 to $46,000. That’s a painful drop by any measure.