Word: layoffs
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People who fall into homelessness say it feels like a spiral. A layoff, a medical emergency or a domestic quarrel sets off a chain reaction of bad luck. And the risk of falling into the economic abyss has increased, even in better times. Writing before the housing bubble burst and Wall Street collapsed, Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker showed that the big difference between 30 years ago and today is the dramatic growth in income volatility. American family incomes now rise and fall much more sharply from year to year, and this is happening at the same time that public...
...rise? Brunch traffic was up 8% during the first eight months of this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Brunch traffic was up 15% in the South, and even in the Northeast, the land of the white-collar layoff, traffic...
...things help the economy improve. First of all, those not laid off - the majority - start consuming again. Second, a new cohort comes into the labor market and is likely to benefit from the recovery, so it's spending more. Third, those who experienced a negative shock, either from a layoff or from graduating in a recession, begin to spend again as well; however, they're likely to save less...
...slack. And that's not guaranteed to happen. Consumer spending also contributed to growth in France and Germany, thanks to falling prices. Those prices, though, will soon stabilize and start rising, which may act as a brake on growth in the near future. So, too could the widespread layoff plans currently being unrolled by companies that have avoided downsizing thus far - a move that often provokes belt-tightening across an entire economy...
...what does any of this mean for people in the real world - especially in this down-and-out economy? One implication, not entirely surprising, is that a job loss may pose an additional challenge. A layoff is a kind of rejection, and that could increase a person's desire for money at the same time he or she has less than before, says Vohs of the University of Minnesota. Put another way: "The recession can make [people] crave what they can't have," she says...