I saw an article the other day that discussed some economic numbers from 2011 and to be honest, I even found a few of them shocking. Even though most American’s have become frustrated with this economy, I know that my students have the ability to not only survive but to thrive in these times. I’m sharing these numbers with you not to scare you, but to prove to you that while things seem bad for you, they could always be worse.
At this time of the year, a lot of families get together, and in most homes the conversation usually gets around to politics at some point. Hopefully many of you will use the list below as a tool to help you share the reality of the U.S. economic crisis with your family and friends. And if any of them need help, send ‘em my way.
1. A staggering 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be “low income” or are living in poverty.
2. Approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be “low income” or impoverished.
3. If the number of Americans that “wanted jobs” was the same today as it was back in 2007, the “official” unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
4. The average amount of time that a worker stays unemployed in the United States is now over 40 weeks.
5. One recent survey found that 77 percent of all U.S. small businesses do not plan to hire any more workers.
6. There are fewer payroll jobs in the United States today than there were back in 2000 even though we have added 30 million extra people to the population since then.
7. Since December 2007, median household income in the United States has declined by a total of 6.8% once you account for inflation.
8. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.6 million Americans were self-employed back in December 2006. Today, that number has shrunk to 14.5 million.
9. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found that approximately one out of every five Americans that do have a job consider themselves to be underemployed.
10. According to author Paul Osterman, about 20 percent of all U.S. adults are currently working jobs that pay poverty-level wages.
Good to be a Gcm lot of very good inf
Those statistics are very sobering. I think that now in 2013 things haven’t improved much.
I would like to see this updated for 2014 going in to 2015.
cant wait to read over part II
Hi Ron, I see this and feel all around me, the media says the ecomomy is doing great! But I know better because when I had my Children’s Resale Store for 7 years, the last 2 were declining in sales and it wasn’t because I wasn’t getting the traffic, or that
the quality, or prices were not good. People honestly did not have the money even when I would have 50% off sale! I wouldn’t really sell a lot until I would have 75% off sales which was making it very hard to stay in busines, teft was becoming more of a problem and I realized I needed out of that business and started looking into etter ways to improve my income. Well I finally found what I have been looking for, for a long time! Thank You Ron, you are changing my life and my familys life as well. God Bless You! And can you please send an up to date statistics of where our economy is really at now in 2018?
My Dad’s family was sharecroppers in rural Arkansas during the 1930’s Great Depression. They raised cotton. They always worked hard, but sometimes their crops failed due to drought and too often they didn’t have enough to eat. And you can’t eat cotton. They made their underclothes and shirts out of flour sacks. They might get a new pair of shoes in the fall, if they made a crop. Otherwise, they went barefoot, even in the winter. All the kids wore hand me downs. No electricity. The unemployment rate was 30%. Men travelled the rails from town to town looking for work. This sounds like the Johnny Cash song, “Pickin’ Time”, but it’s all true. Somehow, they got by. Dad mustered into the army in WWII, came out married my Mom and the prosperity the followed the war enabled him to start a business building farm implements and he pulled himself out of poverty. He was tough as nails. He made it due to his work ethic and the economic conditions being ripe with opportunity. My goal is to create a real estate empire to leave to my son and grandkids. When I feel down because progress in real estate isn’t fast enough and there are setbacks I think about my Dad and how he persevered. If he can come from dire poverty to middle class, what’s holding me back? I’ve got an education, corporate experience, work ethic and access to Ron LeGrand’s training. There is no excuse why I can’t become a real estate millionaire. Real estate isn’t easy, but it sure beats picking cotton.