Sunday Spectacle CXXXVII


American Job Losses From Pre-recession Peak

(source: "Percent Job Losses in Recessions July Aug 5, 2011," CalculatedRisk, downloaded Aug 28 2011)

This is one of my favourite charts because it shows the true severity of the recession. The recovery is unlike anything USA has seen in the post-war years. Since the 2001 recovery is also very slow, I wonder if the slow, flat, recovery is indicative of the collapse of manufacturing. If so, and I believe it is, then how the US economy restructures will dictate its future for the next 50 or so years (similar to how the collapse of farming during the Great Depression set the stage for the future). It may not feel like it but if the US economy doesn't find new areas to replace those lost manufacturing jobs, it will probably deteriorate (economically) relative to the world.

Even if you are bearish on the economy, it's really hard to see how it can enter another recession since the employment picture is so bad.

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