The effects of the Bush recession wear on. In 2009, Rutgers University commissioned a study not just of unemployment statistics, but real world impacts of the recession, job layoffs, and personal economics of those impacted.
It's difficult for anyone who has retained a decent job through the ongoing economic crisis to fully grasp how many of your friends, neighbors and families have been truly gutted by both job loss and GOP-inspired social safety net reductions. The simple rapid nature of this sea change in personal economics should be a big cause for concern in the 1%, and glee for those who have invested in guillotine futures.
This is what it's all about for me. Below the flip, I'm going to cherry pick one statistic from the study that floored me (but please, read the entire study - it's not that long, but there's a treasure trove of information contained within). This infographic is pretty easy to understand:
- Workers who have MADE IT BACK consider themselves in excellent, good, or fair financial shape and have experienced no change in their standard of living due to the recession.
- People ON THEIR WAY BACK have largely experienced a minor change to their
standard of living, but say the change is temporary. They also consider themselves in excellent, good, or fair financial shape.
- Workers who have been DOWNSIZED meet one of three conditions; they have
experienced: a minor change that is permanent; a minor change that is temporary, but they are in poor financial shape; or a major change in their standard of living that is temporary and they are in at least fair financial shape.
- Workers classified as DEVASTATED have experienced a major change to their
lifestyle due to the recession. They can be either in poor financial shape and think the change is temporary, or in fair financial shape but think this change is permanent.
- Workers that have been TOTALLY WRECKED by this recession have experienced a major change to their lifestyle that is permanent and are in poor financial shape.
This isn't a specious, one-off graduate course study, either. Here are the parameters:
The research began with a cross-sectional sample of 1,202 who had said they had lost a job at some point in the preceding 12 months (between August 2008 and 2009). They were resurveyed in March 2010, again in November 2010, and then in August 2011.
A total of 3,972 individual surveys were completed over the two years. Well over half of the original respondents participated in all four waves of the project, meaning they spent, on average, 50 minutes of their time responding to roughly 200 questionnaire items.
Again, I encourage you to read the entire study. My own cherry picked statistic below the flip...
Here's a chart from the study that I found very interesting, and applicable to my particular situation:
Under the "age" demographic heading, you'll find the range, 45 - 59. Scroll to the right, and look under the heading, "devastated". The highest percentage on the entire chart - 49% - is shown in this category.
My interpretation? Those who are in this age demographic (such as myself) who have lost their job have been the most severely impacted across all age impact typology. What this means is that if you've lost your job, and you're over 45, the financial hit and personal toll that it's taken on you and your family is catastrophic. Implied, but not specifically discussed, is that if you've lost your job, the chances of getting another one even marginally close to the one you lost is slim.
The ongoing Rutgers study (latest data points collected in August of 2011) is the first study I've found that actually speaks to the personal impact of the economy, and the hopelessness that many of us feel.
I hope everyone will take a bit of time today to look at this study, and let the ramifications sink in. There's much to be gleaned from the information provided that I haven't even touched upon. I'm pressed for time this morning, so I hope you'll add your own observations in the comments.
(Tip of the hat to Facebook friend Ronald Pires for pointing me to a blog post on this study at Jesse's Cafe Americain.)
Update, 2PM EST - My thanks to everyone for their great comments in my absence. I want to make it clear that this study is a continuing analysis of unemployed individuals, and the impact on their lives, both financial and personal.
Losing one's job is about more than just losing a paycheck. It's about losing dignity, self respect, self worth, and questioning one's own ability to contribute both to their family and society as a whole. In my diary, I've focused on only one aspect of the Rutger's study, and once again, I encourage you to read the entire thing. It's not that long (11 pages), and there's literally a nugget in there for everyone, in every demographic (age, ethnic, and education).
There's no question that this study is not personally applicable to anyone who did not lose their job at some point over the past five years, and again, I understand the difficulty in expressing empathy if your personal circumstances haven't been in this situation. Many of us have been (and continue to be).
What I'd like everyone to take away from this study is that there are major impacts to the social and financial fabric of this country that aren't being adequately explored or addressed by those who are in decision making authority, whether it's at a state or federal level. There's a lot of "under the radar" suffering that's going on, and no one is talking about it.
The Rutger's study is the first that I've seen that truly quantifies the economic impacts of the recession over a period of time, in a controlled study.