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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (21494)	1/16/2005 5:39:19 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 116555

There was an era in America when a family could live comfortably on the income of just one worker. Not anymore. Today, three-quarters of college-educated families like the Ryans are two-earner households. Only one-quarter try to make it on the wages of a single earner. latimes.com Meanwhile, the influx of wives to the workforce has been especially important for middle-class families without college educations. Government figures show that fully 80% of their inflation-adjusted income growth over the last 25 years has been the result of the rising earnings of women. During the same span, men's wages have stagnated. During the early '70s, the inflation-adjusted income of most of those in the middle of the economic spectrum — making about $50,000 a year in today's terms — bounced up and down by no more than $6,500 annually. By the beginning of this decade, those fluctuations had climbed to as much as $13,500, the newspaper's figures show. At the same time, the increase in volatility has been far greater for the working poor, while even top earners haven't been immune from ever-larger income swings. The chances of experiencing a major setback - such as layoff, divorce or death - in the course of a decade have remained fairly constant or fallen for working families over the last 30 years. But the consequences have grown more severe. Those hit by a setback have seen the odds that their incomes will be chopped at least in half nearly double to more than 1 in 5. Hits come no more often ... Percentage of families beset by at least one of seven income-shaking events in the 1970s, '80s and '90s 1970-79: 20.0% 1980-89: 21.4% 1990-00: 17.0% ... But they land harder Percentage of families whose annual incomes fell by at least 50% when struck by one of these events 1970-79: 12.0% 1980-89: 19.6% 1990-00: 22.1% Shocks to the system Percentage of families experiencing a plunge of 50% or more in annual income when hit by one of the following events: Separation or divorce 1970-79: 23.9% 1980-89: 34.1% 1990-00: 39.0% Death of a spouse 1970-79: 24.9% 1980-89: 23.0% 1990-00: 30.5% Birth of a child 1970-79: 4.5% 1980-89: 8.7% 1990-00: 11.2% Illness hits head of household 1970-79: 9.6% 1980-89: 17.3% 1990-00: 16.4% Unemployment for head of household 1970-79: 13.1% 1980-89: 23.3% 1990-00: 27.0% Major drop in spouse's work hours* 1970-79: 7.3% 1980-89: 12.8% 1990-00: 15.2% Retirement or disability for head of household* 1970-79: 21.2% 1980-89: 30.1% 1990-00: 32.6% * Results in a reduction in work hours of at least 520 hours - or the equivalent of three months of employment - in the course of a year ** Results in a reduction in work hours of at least 320 hours - or the equivalent of two months of employment - in the course of a year Source: Times analysis of a nationally representative sample of 5,000 families and their offshoots in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics