Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5%

“For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now.

UnemploymentWith the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.”

…So if 11.7% was the credit level before the 1982 expansion, then the consumer is already tapped out and will not be available to go further into debt to salvage our bacon in this recession. So some have speculated that although recessions are ended by the return of the consumer, this time we’ll have to depend on business expansion….uh huh…..

time to pop some more popcorn…