Confounded Interest ^ | 02/04/2013 | Anthony B. Sanders
One of the most important measures for housing is employment. And while payrolls are SLOWLY improving,
but food stamps are growing at a much faster rate.
This is from Bloomberg Briefs:
“An ongoing concern is that growth in jobs continues to be dwarfed by the surge in food stamps. During the first 10 months of 2012 there were 1.01 million new additions to the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a 2.2 percent increase. During the same period, the number of nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 1.5 million, a 1.1 percent gain.
The results from the end of the recession in June 2009 are even more staggering. The number of food stamp recipients has rocketed 30 percent since mid-2009, yet the number of nonfarm payroll jobs has inched up a mere 2 percent over that same period. Considering the composition of those jobs – in low wage industries – the household sector is clearly suffering.”
The growth in food stamps correlates with the longer-term decline in wages and salaries (as a percentage of GDP).
It is hard to have a traditional owner-occupied housing recovery under these conditions.
Particularly with GDP growth at -0.5% in Q4 2012 and forecast to be +1.5% in Q1 2013.
