The lower-income the household, the higher the unemployment rates.
Kim Kruckel
The quote below is from a piece by Bob Herbert today in the NYT. As we talk with federal legislators about passing the jobs bill (which will hopefully include some state relief) or TANF reauthorization the facts below might be helpful as talking points. I am trying to find a copy of the real report. You can read the article by Herbert at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/opinion/09herbert.html?scp=2&sq=bob%20herbert&st=cse
“There has been talk about income inequality over the past several years, but what is happening now is catastrophic. The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston divided American households into 10 groups based on annual household income. Then it analyzed labor conditions in each of the groups during the fourth quarter of 2009.
The highest group, with household incomes of $150,000 or more, had an unemployment rate during that quarter of 3.2 percent. The next highest, with incomes of $100,000 to 149,999, had an unemployment rate of 4 percent.
Contrast those figures with the unemployment rate of the lowest group, which had annual household incomes of $12,499 or less. The unemployment rate of that group during the fourth quarter of last year was a staggering 30.8 percent. That’s more than five points higher than the overall jobless rate at the height of the Depression.
The next lowest group, with incomes of $12,500 to $20,000, had an unemployment rate of 19.1 percent.
Kim Kruckel
State Budget Campaign Coordinator
California Partnership