College and economic security

The Georgetown Public Policy Institute for has released a report detailing how much better off college graduates fared in the economic downturn. Key points

• unemployment rate for 4 year college graduates never exceeded 6.3% during the recession, compared with a peak unemployment rate of 13.4% in February 2010.
• unemployment rate for new high school graduates peaked at 30% in January 2010, and remained at 24% in May of 2012.
• during the recession (Dec. 2007-Jan 2010) there was modest job growth (187,000) for those with a bachelor's degree or better.
• During the recovery (January 2010-Feb. 2012) job losses for high school graduates or less education continued to decline (230,000) while job growth for those with some college (2,012,000) and Bachelor's degree or better (3,374,000) improved dramatically.
• Nearly 4 out of every 5 jobs lost in the recession were held by workers with a high school diploma or less.

There is a wealth of additional information.

Down and down more

One reason consumers feel so pessimistic may be that income levels have declined more since the recession ended than during the period of recession. This from a study by two former census officials

During the recession, real median annual household income fell by 3.2 percent, from $55,309 in December 2007 to $53,518 in June 2009. During the economic recovery, real median annual household income fell by an additional 6.7 percent, from $53,518 in June 2009 to $49,909 in June 2011.

Geography of unemployment

The unemployment map has been updated through July 2010. Our original post on the earlier map is here.

Unions disliked more than ever

Is the current decline in public support for unions tied to the economy, or is there a more sophisticated reason, including the coordinated effort to blame unions for all that is wrong in this country?

Ten year recovery?

The Center for Economic Policy and Research released a depressing study on job loss which suggests the jobs deficit wont be erased until 2021.

EFCA fowl (sic)

"Third generation union organizer" Mike Elk's piece confirming EFCA is dead started it by suggesting the EFCA battle is one with larger themes and objectives than, uh, EFCA. Then came the crying "fowl" in this post by J. Justin Wilson claiming the EFCA fight is war by proxy in "a larger conflict about political sway, public opinion, and economic ideology." One is forced to pause here and consider whether Wilson is referring to Galliformes or  Anseriformes, or as is likely, neither, but I digress. Elk retorts at Firedoglake calling Wilson "the corporate version of that creepy hit man from No Country for Old Men." Elk's position? Wilson, tool of Wall Street, needs to continue destroying unions to continue destroying the economy. You can't make this stuff up . . .

NAM issues its 2009 Labor Day Report

Lots of fascinating data here. Lots of "worsts." Total non-farm employment has declined almost 6% - - a whopping 6,859,000 jobs lost, nearly 2 million in manufacturing alone. Manufacturing output through July 2009 fell 16.4% from its record high in December of 2007. Unemployment is expected to be at 10% by mid-2010 and not make meaningful improvement until 2011. The report can be downloaded here.