Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Worse than 1981

I don’t remember the 1981-82 recession. I’d finished college, and I was off on a grand adventure (thank you Thomas J Watson).  I returned and started medical school.

Whatever that recession was like, this one is considerably worse …

Along With Layoffs, Recession’s Cost Can Be Seen in Pay Cuts - NYTimes.com

… The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track pay cuts, but it suggests they are reflected in the steep decline of another statistic: total weekly pay for production workers, pilots among them, representing 80 percent of the work force. That index has fallen for nine consecutive months, an unprecedented string over the 44 years the bureau has calculated weekly pay, capturing the large number of people out of work, those working fewer hours and those whose wages have been cut. The old record was a two-month decline, during the 1981-1982 recession

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