A Jobless and Income-Less Recovery?

If you listen to Obama and his economic team, we've turned the corner on this recession. But, for most Americans that same feeling is probably far from a reality. Despite what the Administration keeps saying, the number of Americans who have completely given up looking for jobs has continued to rise. Unemployment did have a small drop after poking above 10 percent last fall but, the rate has remained steady for the last 3 months. Last Thursday, the number of workers filing for new unemployment benefits claims jumped unexpectedly by 18,000 new claims after having fallen for 3 weeks in a row. And, the number of temporary workers just keeps rising.

But, putting all those numbers aside, the best indicator as to whether Americans are really hurting or not, all comes down to what's in their paychecks. Sadly, the American worker lost 3.2% of their income last year from the year prior (Click to See Full Story: Income falls 3.2% during Obama's term) and there is every indication that they will continue to lose wages again this year. In dollar terms, that's about $1,028 that has been taken out of every man, woman or child's pocket. For an average of family of 4, that's a whopping $4,100 in lost wages last year. In Arizona, alone, the per capita income drop was actually 4.1% (Click to See Full Story: Income in Arizona falls faster than rest of nation) or by about $1,350.

The bottom line is that the loss of wages is an economy killer. It means that people have less money to buy stuff and if the losses continue this year, it's hard to believe this economy is actually on the mend.