The rightwing blogs are touting the recent 5% unemployment rate, claiming it is a sign of economic strength. In addition, there are numerous postings that wages have increased, proving that all the job growth is not in “Mcjobs.” I realize the wingers will do anything they can to perform fellatio on dear leader. However, let’s look at actual numbers rather than mere postings on a winger board, shall we?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics wages have barely grown for the last 5 years. According to the BLS, the average earnings increase from 2000-2004 was 3.86%, 3.22%, 3.12%, 1.71% and 2.39% respectively. However wages have to be compared to inflation to determine the real rate of wage growth. For the same years, annual inflation was 3.4%, 2.8%, 1.6%, 2.3% and 2.7% respectively. When inflation is subtracted from wages, overall wage growth becomes .46%, .42%, 1.52%, -.59% and-.31% respectively for 2000-2004.
Therefore, a family who started in 2000 with $36,000 now makes $36,538.37. For those of you who are interested, that is a compound annual growth rate of .29%. Color me a liberal traitor and a man who hates America, but I think that growth rate sucks.
Let’s look at the labor participation rate, which measures the percentage of people working as a total of the total number of people able to work. According to the BLS, that percentage was 67.2 in January of 2001. Last month, that percentage was 66%. Wow, another brilliant achievement for dear leader. Less people are working now than in 2001.
Given that there is little meaningful gain in wages, how do people maintain their standard of living? Why they follow the Republican lead, and incur massive amounts of debt. Considering that Republicans are responsible for 5.1 trillion in debt over the last 25 years, I blame the Republicans for the following:
According to the Federal Reserve, total consumer debt is just under 10 trillion dollars. This includes credit card and mortgage debt. This is the highest level in 25 years.
According to the Federal Reserve, mortgage debt increased from 5 trillion to just under 10 trillion from 2000 – 2004. This is the highest level in 25 years.
According to the Federal Reserve, household debt as a percentage of GDP has increased from 70% to 85% from 2000 – 2004. This is the highest level in 35 years.
According to the Federal Reserve, household debt as a percentage of assets has increased from 15% – 18% from 2000 – 2004. This is the highest level in 40 years. Also remember that after inflation, wage growth was stagnant for the last few years. This means debt payments are taking a larger percentage of personal income.
So, let’s sum up, shall we?
1.) Wages have growth at a .2% compound rate under deal leader.
2.) A smaller percentage of people are working of the total people who could work.
3.) Families have taken Republican advice about debt, and now use it in record amounts to maintain their standard of living.
Wow, the definition of success sure has changed.
