Sunday, June 05, 2011

When Is A Recovery Not A Recovery?

For most people the answer to that one would be when it is jobless. But the term "jobless recovery" is routinely used, even though it made White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee mad on the teebee.

So what is it that is "recovered" in a "jobless recovery?" Hmm. Could it be corporate profits?

This graph shows how they looked in the last quarter of 2010 when compared to the pre-recession data from 2007.




Have a look at those financial sector profits. Perhaps this recovery is jobless but it doesn't look to be profitless.