Few Have Remained Unscathed

This from "Financial Armageddon" -- though I often disagree with some opinions there, this is well done. I think all the attempts to say this group, or that group are hit the hardest is just smokescreen, just an attempt to convince folks this downturn is not that bad, not that widespread, will soon be over. In other words --- SPIN.

(please follow link to original -- this is another blog you should read on a regular basis)


Few Have Remained Unscathed

Has the worst downturn since the Great Depression had the biggest impact on men --

"A 'Mancession?' Recession Hitting America's Men Harder than Women" (KXTV)

SACRAMENTO, CA - The economy may be starting to recover now that the 18-month recession seems to be over. However, many families are still struggling to overcome a layoff.

In this substantial period of cutbacks and downsizing, this recession has become a "mancession" for many families. Some people have called the downturn a "mancession" because so many men have been affected by layoffs.

"The men, the traditional breadwinners, are being hurt," said UC Davis professor Ann Huff Stevens said. "More of the higher wage men are out of work right now. Their unemployment rates have been higher than womens' during this recession

-- single women --

"Recession Hits Single Women Harder" (KPSP)

The country's recession has seemed to touch all sorts of people, but single mother in particular appear to have been hit harder than others.

-- mothers --

"'Wal-mart Moms' Struggle to Stay Afloat" (Coshocton Tribune)

Ten "Wal-mart Moms," representing one of this fall's hot electoral groups, were assembled in a conference room in Denver earlier this month, where they were asked to describe the condition of the country this fall.

The words tumbled out: "Downhill." "Recession." "Depressing." "Backwards." "Unfortunate." "Sad." "Loss of control."

For the next 90 minutes, the Denver moms, half of whom had voted for Barack Obama in 2008, described lives of quiet doubt and modest expectations as they struggled to stay afloat in the middle class. Some had lost jobs or homes, or both, and several had unemployed husbands or partners.

"The education system, the jobs and the economy ... all of it is collectively getting worse," said Kelly, a stay-at-home mom of a 9-year-old.

-- children --

"Anne Jarvis: Recession Hurt Kids" (The Windsor Star)

"My dad lost his job. He's really angry. Maybe it would be better if I wasn't here."

That's what a 12-year-old boy told a child psychiatrist at the height of the recession in Windsor.

Lost jobs, lost homes - and scared kids. They were all part of the profound toll here of the worst economic downturn in more than a generation.

-- parents --

"Money Woes Change Parents’ Plans" (MarketWatch)

With a baby like Eve at home, the idea of having another child is tempting.

Our 1-year-old daughter is a joy — smart, lively and sweet — but my husband and I aren’t sure about expanding our family again anytime soon. There’s the cost, the time, and the discomfort of pregnancy (while this is a side issue for us, for some it is a substantial concern).

But what are these worldly concerns compared with snuggles and smiles? Our baby is cute even when crying.

If only cuteness bought diapers. But, unless your baby is also exceptionally camera-ready, it doesn’t, and finances are a major concern for families considering bringing another child into the world.

Forty-four percent of women said they wanted to reduce or delay childbearing because of the economy, according to a 2009 report from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank.

-- older workers --

"Jobless Older Workers Face Hurdles to Getting Hired" (Indianapolis Star)

Decked out in a crisp, cream-colored suit with briefcase in hand, Sherry Everling was someplace Wednesday she never expected to be at age 62: a job fair.

But Everling, like the room full of older workers who swarmed around her, is desperate for a job and not getting hired.

"I really do need to be working right now," said Everling, Beech Grove, who until a year ago was vice president of a sign distribution company. "I'm getting no calls back."

The job market is so bad for older Hoosiers that Indiana was one of 19 states chosen by AARP for a job fair. The organization teamed up with EmploymentGuide.com to hold the fairs in states with the worst unemployment among its members.

"This recession has really hit older workers hard," said Martin DeAgostino, with AARP Indiana. "It's hit everybody hard, but the thing about older workers is we have less time to recover. Being out of work is tough -- much tougher for them."

-- young people --

"College Graduates Are Really Screwed" (24/7 Wall St.)

Attention college seniors: it’s an awful year to graduate college. Anyone with a brain knows that given the state of the economy but the Brookings Institution recently spelled it out in frightening detail.

For these young adults just entering the labor market for the first time, the impacts of the recession will last well into the future. According to one study (Kahn 2010), young people graduating from college during today’s severe recession will earn approximately 17.5 percent less per year than comparable peers graduating in better labor markets. This lower wage effect is highly persistent, fading away only after 17 years of work.

What does this mean in terms of lost income? For the average college graduate this year, this translates into approximately $70,000 (in today’s dollars) in lost earnings over the next decade. For the 2008, 2009, and 2010 classes combined that amounts to over $330 billion in lost earnings over 10 years. The projected losses are even larger for graduates who cannot find a job upon graduation.

-- or minorities --

"U.S. Labor Chief Cites ‘Unacceptable’ Jobless Rates for Minorities" (Kansas City Star)

Hilda Solis, the U.S. secretary of labor, told a group of columnists last week that she and the administration recognize that unemployment numbers for African-American males are at an alarming level. And they are trying to do something about it.

While unemployment for the nation hovers well over 9 percent, for African-Americans, unemployment is estimated at 15 percent.

In recognizing Labor Day, Solis did a telephone interview with members of the Trotter Group, a group of black columnists from across the nation. Solis used the occasion to provide a sort of state of the economy.

“For young people and especially people of regions of the country hardest hit by the recession, and especially people of color, as you know, the unemployment rate is much higher,” Solis said. “And I am very concerned about that. To me, it’s unacceptable. In some communities, it goes as high as 25 to 30 and even as high as 40 percent.”

If the following Bloomberg report, "Recession Hurt More Than Half of Americans, Pew Survey Finds," is anything to go by, few groups -- except, perhaps, for the well-to-do -- have remained unscathed.

The worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression hurt more than half of Americans, especially younger people, minorities and those with a high school education or less, a Pew Research Center survey found.

“For a narrow majority of Americans, 55 percent, the Great Recession brought a mix of hardships, usually in combination: a spell of unemployment, missed mortgage or rent payments, shrinking paychecks and shattered household budgets,” according to the survey released today in Washington. “But for the other 45 percent of the country, the recession was largely free of such difficulties.”

The survey, taken May 11-31, reflects the responses of 2,967 people to eight questions designed to measure economic hardships experienced during the recession. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.