1. The Great Recession
An Overview

2. Poverty The official poverty rate in 2011 was 15%,
(49.1 million people)
The official poverty line for a family of four
was set at $22,350
An additional 97.3 million people are “low-
income” which means their income is less
than twice the federal poverty line
Taken together, 48% of the U.S. population
is poor or low income, 1 in every 2 people.
Source: DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-238, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2010.

3. Child Poverty
More than 1 in 5 children in America are living under the official poverty line
Half of all children will be on SNAP benefits (food stamps) before they turn 20.
Source: DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P60-238, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2010.

4. Source: http://www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html

5. C.E.O.’s of the largest American companies earned an average of 42 times as much as the average worker in 1980, but 185 times as much in 2001
Source:

6. 15 Million Jobs Lost Since the Start of the Recession
Source:

7. A Job-Destroying “Recovery”
15 million jobs have been lost nationwide since the recession began
For every four people unemployed there is one job available.
Since 2008, 60% of all jobs created pay minimum wage.
The average laid-off worker has been without a job for 6 1/2 months, a post-World War II record
Source: Experts see rebounding economy shedding jobs, San Francisco Chronicle, October 25, 2009

8. Source: ericglewis.com
“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago…The downturn officially ended, and the recovery officially began, in June 2009, according to an announcement Monday by the official arbiter of economic turning points. Since that point, total output — the amount of goods and services produced by the United States — has increased, as have many other measures of economic activity.”

9. Home Foreclosures 2009 home foreclosure rate: 10,420 per day
In July, for the 17th month in a row, there were more than 300,000 foreclosures filed.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, renters makeup an estimated 40% of families facing eviction because of foreclosure.
Only 6 percent of all higher cost loans were made by CRA-covered institutions in neighborhoods targeted, which would be low to moderate income neighborhoods targeted by CRA 9

10. Home Foreclosures
A record of 14.42% of U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, are either behind on payments or in foreclosure
A record 11 million U.S. homeowners with a mortgage, or 23%, are in a condition of “negative equity” – they owe more than their home is worth
A record 14 million, or 1 in 9, U.S. homes are vacant
Source:
Source:
Source: U.S. Foreclosure Filings Jump 23% to Record in Third, Bloomberg, October 15, 2009 10

12. Why College? When the Boomers entered the workforce in the 1970s,
the U.S.’s largest employer was General Motors
- The average wage was $17.50 per hour
As the Millennials are entering the workforce today,
the U.S.’s largest employer is Wal-Mart
- The average wage is $8.00 per hour
McDonald’s is the largest youth employer in the country
Workers under 24 make up nearly half of the food service,
department store, and grocery store workforce
“College tuition has grown faster than inflation for three decades, and faster than family income for the past fifteen years. Federal aid has lagged behind. An unprecedented explosion of borrowing has made up the difference between what colleges charge and what families can afford.” Generation Debt p. 5
Source: Generation Debt p. 7

13. Student Debt College seniors who graduated in 2009
carried an average of $24,000 in student loan debt,
up 7% from the previous year
Source:
Source for graphic: happylists.wordpress.com

14. Source: arielleloren.com