The State of the U. S. Economy

I sampled the graphic above from a post by David Stockman that started out with why the present stock market boom is a bubble that’s about to deflate and veered into an explanation of the “financialization” of the U. S. economy, i.e. that the relationship between the financial sector and U. S. GDP is wildly unrealistic.

The graph above illustrates the growth of jobs over the last fifteen years in the “breadwinner” sectors of construction, manufacturing, white collar, finance and real estate, transportation, information, and trade. What’s left out? Food service, hospitality, retail and the two government handmaiden industries, education and healthcare. There are two million fewer jobs in breadwinner sectors today than there were in 2000 and the U. S. population is 10% bigger than it was then. Additional jobs since the end of the recession have been in the non-“breadwinner” categories.

If you believe that the future of the U. S. economy lies in growth in the food service, hospitality, and retail sectors, you necessarily believe that the wages of future Americans will be lower than they have been in the post-war period. If you believe that the future of the U. S. economy lies in growth in the education and healthcare sectors, you believe in perpetual motion.

6 comments… add one
  • Andy Link

    Wow, that’s depressing.

  • You think that’s depressing, Andy, you should see full-time jobs numbers broken down by age bands. Younger people are getting poorer at an astonishing rate.

  • It would be interesting to see whether the incomes of younger people correlate better with the incomes of their parents or with older people of the same level of educational attainment. I’m guessing the former.

  • Andy Link
  • Andy Link

    BTW, just want to make clear I’m posting that for the dark humor and I don’t think any of the meme’s apply to our great host, Dave.

  • I’ve documented before here that Baby Boomers earned more in real dollars at every stage of their lives than the cohorts that followed them.

Leave a Comment