Gallup reports that, in the last year, more Americans have become worse off financially than better off. This revelation--five and a half years after the fall of Lehman--is just the latest evidence that our jobs depression continues. (Article continues after chart.)
For years, I've been calling this period of American history a jobs depression. Before calling me a Chicken Little for using the "D" word, please keep in mind that, while there's no official definition for "depression" in an economic sense, most economists call protracted periods of economic malaise "depressions".
And the last 6 years have absolutely been a protracted period of economic malaise.
Years after the economy bottomed in 2009, the epidemic of long-term unemployment and underemployment continues to afflict the American workforce. Incredibly, 5 years into "recovery", fewer jobs were created last year than the year before. And, as has been the case throughout this depression, the vast majority of jobs created last year were menial in nature. Very few new "breadwinner" jobs.
Keep in mind that the unacceptably tepid jobs recovery that we have had has been merely a result of the inflation of the Fed's latest asset bubble. The Fed's balance sheet just passed $4 trillion...that's 22% of the entire economy! The Fed has been feigning healthy economic growth for years by inflating what Nouriel Roubini is calling the "mother of all bubbles".
Seth Mason, Charleston SC
