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For them, the Great Recession, in fact, is a Great Depression, perhaps America's greatest given dire levels of growing misery for millions.
Moreover, those hardest hit include Blacks, Hispanics, young workers under 30, high school dropouts, others with no college degree, and those in construction, retail, hospitality and accommodation, and business services.
In fact, "(t)he tepid recovery from the 2007 - 09 recession through (Q I 2011) marks the first time in post-World War II history that civilian employment as measured by the" Current Population Survey (CPS) "failed to register any net growth seven quarters following the end of the recession."
As a result, real unemployment as measured in the 1980s tops 22%, not the manipulated Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 9.1% headline figure. Wages have also stagnated or declined, and benefits are eroding.
In fact, "the overwhelming beneficiary of (rising) national income generated by labor productivity (worker output per unit of time, benefitting employers not them) was corporate (pre-tax) profits" at the expense of workforces.
From 2009 Q II through 2010, real US national income rose $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits alone increased $464 billion (88% of real national income) while aggregate real wages and salaries rose only $7 billion or 1%, despite double-digit inflation, not the manipulated BLS 3.6% CPI in the previous 12 months, excluding or underweighting food, energy, transportation, rent, college tuitions, and other sharply rising components.
The study concluded that America's "recovery" is "both jobless and wageless," stressing workers as hard times continue.
Economic Policy Institute's (EPI) "State of Working
America"
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