Krugman: What recovery? "Companies step up layoffs"
by Gaius Publius on 7/21/2011 04:47:00 PM
Paul Krugman has the goods, in a simple chart that says it all. This is one of the broadest, and perhaps the truest, measures of unemployment, the Employment-to-Population Ratio. Here's the latest:
Krugman adds:
[W]e’ve been basically flat on the employment front since late 2009, with nothing suggesting a sustained break back toward better performance[.]
Like a bouncing ball that flutters till it dies on the floor. This is what it looks like when stimulus money runs out and nothing triggers new demand. This is what it looks like when frightened job-holders try to pay down that massive household debt overhang with failing and uncertain incomes.
But wait, it could get worse. Watch when Obama's eager austerity kicks in. Think that will change the 2012 election dynamic just a tad?
Me too.
UPDATE: David Frum has a similar chart, going back to the 1940s. This one shows labor's share of national income, a great measurable. Note the Icarus-like fall from grace as soon as Bush II (and his tax cuts) took office.
By the way, the source of both charts is the St. Louis Fed and its great chart-making capability.
GP