Consumer Spending Drop Biggest Since 9/11

[mrbowler]

This data is before Pres. Bush declared that we have turned the corner.
It will be a interesting to see the jobs report on I believe Friday. Looking
for 200,000 jobs for month. FYI-The U.S. Economy needs to produce around
125k each month to absorb workforce growth.

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[luvmetender]

I am waiting to see this report as well, mrbowler. Personally, I don't feel like we have turned the corner.

[mayfly]

I have had 3 friends, the bread winners of the family, be unemployed for well over a year. All of them are working again. I think we have turned the corner.

[Jwelch111]

mayfly: are the new jobs of your friends of the same wage level as their previous jobs?

What is happening in many instances is the underemployment of the workforce. The exceptional manufacturing jobs have gone to other countries, who can offer lower labor costs.

Also the new jobs here do not offer health care, in many instances. Or offer it with ever increasing out-of-pocket costs to the worker.

This is the way of a Republican Administration: looking out for corporate interests first.

And this administration has carried this to the extreme. Coupled with a tax cut IN WARTIME (unheard of: ask economist Paul Krugman) and we have a disaster waiting for retiring Baby boomers and a HUGE bill for our children / grandchildren (with decreased spending for social programs as a special bonus: starve them (the programs) to death).

None of us know today if we will be in great need of those government social programs in the future.

All of the "up by the bootstraps" rhetoric will not matter then.

[luvmetender]

Originally Posted by Jwelch111

Also the new jobs here do not offer health care, in many instances. Or offer it with ever increasing out-of-pocket costs to the worker.

This report just came out yesterday:

Fewer Employees Covered by Employer Health Insurance

Tuesday, August 3, 2004


The recent economic downturn and rising healthcare costs have taken a toll on the number of Americans with employer healthcare coverage, according to a study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The study found that the proportion of Americans under age 65 with employer health coverage fell from 67 percent in 2001 to 63 percent in 2003, translating into almost 9 million fewer people with employer coverage after accounting for population growth.

"While the economic downturn reduced employment and accounted for much of the decline in employer coverage, the rapidly rising cost of health insurance, which increased about 28 percent between 2001 and 2003, likely contributed to the decline as well," says Bradley C. Strunk, co-author of the study.

The researchers say younger workers were among those who saw significant changes in coverage. Between 2001 and 2003, the proportion of young adults with employer coverage declined from 64.9 percent to 59.4 percent, according to the study.

While employer-based coverage dropped, public-program coverage increased, according to the study. The proportion of the under-65 population enrolled in public coverage-primarily Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)-increased from 9 percent to 12 percent between 2001 and 2003.

[mayfly]

oh man I know about the healthcare! Everyone I know has had their health insurance go up, with the insurance not covering as well as it previously did.

Yes, all 3 of my friends are up to a current level. They were white collar workers. At one point I knew around 12 people without jobs. They are all currently employed.

On the other hand I know one person recently unemployed. But she is not looking, nor had been looking for a new job.

[ShainaT]

Your friends are lucky Mayfly. I know people who have not been so lucky. One man I know who worked at MCI will hit 2 yrs of unemployment this December. He is now selling cars because he has too. Another man I know lost his job the same week his wife found out she was pregnant. This was back in April and he is having NO luck.

I've been a SAHM for almost two years now. I can't tell you how many offers I've had to do PT work (I was a corporate accountant for 10 yrs) because they don't have to pay benefits, etc. for me. I am now helping out my neighbors company. The same day this company let a FT woman go they called me to see if I could work PT from home. I felt bad but they had already let her go so whether or not I accepted the job had no bearing on her.

[mrbowler]

Here's a positive report released today:

Factory Orders, Services Lift Outlook
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Here's what folks are concerned about?

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[mrbowler]

THE SWELLING RANKS OF WORKFORCE DROPOUTS: Since 1994, the number of 25- to 54-year-olds who are not employed and who aren't looking for a job has risen by more than 3 million. The reading in the month of May each year:

SOURCE: BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS





Check out this discussion earlier:
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Bush Administration's tax cuts not fulfilling job creation promises:


In 2003, 45 percent of employees had medical coverage through employers, down from 63 percent a decade earlier, according to government figures.

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[mrbowler]

My last chart for now

Notice how household income is rolling down. It was supported earlier by having more 2 income households imo.

[mayfly]

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The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits dropped last week, a hopeful sign for the job market recovery.
While the economic recovery is on a solid path, the labor market recovery has been spotty. "Making sure that more jobs are created has ... been the top domestic priority of President Bush's administration," Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a visit to Akron, Ohio, Thursday.

[prism68]

Originally Posted by mrbowler

My last chart for now

Notice how household income is rolling down. It was supported earlier by having more 2 income households imo.

Speaking of this, I wonder how the fact that more and more mothers have been leaving the workplace to raise children affects these numbers?

[mrbowler]

Originally Posted by prism68

Speaking of this, I wonder how the fact that more and more mothers have been leaving the workplace to raise children affects these numbers?

I'll look around to see if I can locate 2000-2004.

http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/whusa02/images/graph-pg20a.gif

[mrbowler]

Ouch-not to good of a report released today . The key will be if the consumer can continue to hold retail sales up.

[mrbowler]

I'll say one thing..Might be in a tough spot on one issue, and that is of whether or not Greenspan will raise interest rates on I believe Tuesday. In order to keep inflation in check they want to raise rates, but if they do it could stall the economy further.