The most recent U.S. recession and recovery have been accompanied by a sharp decline in the labor force participation rate. The largest declines have occurred in states with the largest job losses. This suggests that some of the recent drop in the national labor force participation rate could be cyclical. Past recoveries show evidence of … Continue reading
Those aged under 45 have been affected “dramatically” more by the property crash and recession than those 45 and over, according to a new research paper published yesterday by the Economic and Social Research Institute, a Dublin-based think tank. When comparing a range of indicators over the half-decade to 2009/2010, the report described the contrast … Continue reading
The recession was the deepest one since the Great Depression. But slow job recoveries have become a defining trend of the past three recessions. It took the economy 37 months from the end of the 2001 recession to add back the jobs it lost. For the recession before that, which ended in 1991, it took … Continue reading
In a book to be released this month, professors David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu say suicide rates in both the U.S. and the U.K. increased after the end of 2007, which marked the beginning of the recession in the U.S. They calculate there were 4,750 “excess” suicides during the slump in the U.S., compared with … Continue reading
Spain is in a great depression, and it is one of the most terrifying things ever seen. Five years after its housing boom turned to bust, Spanish unemployment hit a record high of 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013. It’s almost too horrible to comprehend, but 19.5 percent of the total workforce has not had … Continue reading
Women are hit hardest by the financial squeeze and worry more than men about paying the bills. They spend almost 11 hours a month thinking about money problems while men ponder for only 9½ hours, says to a new study by consumer champions Which? Women also feel less optimistic about their finances and the wider … Continue reading
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index declined by 5.1 points, or 10.8%, in March, posting 42.2 vs. 47.3 in February. The index is 5.5 points below its 12-month average of 47.7, 2.2 points below its reading of 44.4 in December 2007 when the economy entered the recession, and 7.5 points below its all-time average of 49.7. … Continue reading
We have quarterly GDP data for 11 more OECD countries since our last post “World plunges into recession in Q42012“, and there have been some 2nd estimate revisions (such as the U.S). The chart below shows an improvement over the last post we made with the inclusion of more data points, but both the measures … Continue reading
The chart clearly illustrates the savagery of the last recession. It was much deeper than the closest contender in this timeframe, the 1973-1975 Oil Embargo recession. While we’ve yet to set new highs, the trend has collectively been upward. But a closer look at the average shows a clear slowing of the trend in 2012. … Continue reading
Canada’s economy is facing a tough climb to reach any meaningful growth this year after recession-level growth in the last half of 2012. Output slipped back into reverse last month but still managed to eke out a gain for the final quarter of 2012 and end the year with total growth of 1.8% — down … Continue reading
As bad as the current job recovery has been — and it’s by far the weakest since World War II — the recovery in wages has been far worse. Five years after the recession began in December 2007, total wages in the economy have yet to fully recover in real terms, Commerce Department data show. … Continue reading
From a macroeconomic perspective, the health care sector has functioned for some time as the main economic locomotive pulling the economy along. In the last two decades, it has created more jobs on a net basis than any other sector. Oddly, not much is made of the job-creating ability of the health care sector in … Continue reading
The eurozone suffered its third consecutive quarter of decline at the end of 2012 as exports from leading economies Germany and France sank, deepening a regional recession that has driven unemployment to record highs. Gross domestic product in the 17-nation euro area fell by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, leaving the eurozone economy 0.5% smaller … Continue reading
Kids born during the economic recessions of the 1980s had a higher chance of substance abuse and arrest as teenagers, a new study has found, leading researchers to wonder if babies born in recent years could face a similar fate. “The mechanisms involved may be different in intensity and severity, (but) based on the study … Continue reading
“Economic conditions for children today are similar to those of a year ago—and much worse than they were in 2007. Millions of families with children have not yet regained ground lost during the recession.” write Julia B. Isaacs and Olivia Healy in The Recession’s Ongoing Impact on Children, 2012: Indicators of Children’s Economic Well-Being (Adapted choosen excerpts by … Continue reading