Help The 99ers: Chart of the Day: The Shrinking Middle Class

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Chart of the Day: The Shrinking Middle Class

source: The Rise and Consequences of Inequality in the United States, Alan B. Kreuger (PDF link)

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By The Numbers

Real GDP
for the fourth quarter of 2012
0.4% (third estimate)
as of 2013-03-28, source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Initial Unemployment Claims
for the week ending 2013-03-23
357,000 (+16,000)
4-Week Moving Average:
343,000 (+2,250)

as of 2013-03-28, source: US Department of Labor

Job Openings
for January, 2013
3.693 million
+81,000 month over month, +278,000 year over year

as of 2013-03-12, source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Employment Situation
for February, 2013
Nonfarm payroll employment: +236,000
U-3 Unemployment Rate: 7.7%
Number of unemployed: 12.032 million (-300,000 month over month, -174,000 year over year)
Long-term Unemployed: 4.797 million, 40.2% of total
Participation Rate: 63.5%
Employment-Population Ratio: 58.6%
Marginally Attached: 2.6 million

December Revision: +196,000 to +219,000
January Revision: +157,000 to +119,000

as of 2013-03-08, source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

ADP National Employment Report
Nonfarm private sector employment: +198,000
Small business jobs: +77,000
Medium business jobs: +65,000
Large business jobs: +57,000
Manufacturing: +9,000
Financial Activities: +7,000
Construction: +21,000

as of 2013-03-06, source: ADP Research Institute

America Underwater

A Real Solution for the Housing Crisis

Today 15.7 million Americans own homes that are "underwater," or worth less than their mortgages. Strangled by the same big banks who caused the housing crisis, many homeowners now find their banks unwilling to negotiate - even when they can pay.

Few families will ever be able to pay off their inflated mortgages. Many will default. As long as this $700 billion in underwater mortgages remains on bank books, foreclosures will increase, the housing market will struggle, and our entire economy will stall.

But there's a solution: Through principal reduction - rewriting underwater mortgages to reflect their fair market value - experts agree we could jump start the housing market and the economy.

Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, said that principal reduction has "the best odds of ending the housing crash quickly and definitively."

Big banks must write down at least $300 billion in underwater homes. That's not enough to bail out vacation homes and investment properties. It's enough to put money back in the pockets of struggling middle and low-income families. And it's enough to right the market.

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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Chart of the Day: The Shrinking Middle Class

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