According to the latest ADP report, 169,000 jobs were LOST in November.
By Daniel at 2 December, 2009, 10:13 am
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That means we are adding net-zero jobs to the weakened economy, and putting the equivalent of a small city out on the street so to speak. One thing I don’t see anyone talking about, is the financial impact that unemployment is having on households that do finally have that primary wage earner re-employed. Unemployment is, after all, a “rolling average.”
How many people have lost their job, been unemployed for some period of time, and found a new job in the last 12 months?
What is the new wage they had to accept, and how does it compare to their prior salary?
Does the new job offer health insurance?
What is the average condition of the personal balance sheets of these newly re-employed workers?
Did their stint of unemployment cost them their credit rating?
Are their savings exhausted?
How about their 401K accounts? Did they have to liquidate retirement savings to keep a roof over their head?
If they lost their home to foreclosure, where are they living?
Are they working in the same capacity as their old job, or are they “starting at the bottom?”
The answers to THESE questions would tell us a LOT more about the structural changes being done to our economy than any simple unemployment number can. That’s probably why no one is talking about it. My own experience tells me that once you’ve been unemployed for a period of time, and had to accept a new position at a lower salary, the changes to your spending habits are irrevocably altered for many years to come. Why isn’t anyone investigating the consequences of these changes?
- Coventry
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