Builders Are Building Again, Despite Risk

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.

Thanks to improving housing market, private debt: Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - The economy has had its share of false starts over the past few years, but this time things could really be improving, opines Paul Krugman. "There’s evidence that the two great problems at the root of our slump—the housing bust and excessive private debt—are finally easing," he notes in the New York Times . House prices have returned to where they were in 2003, in the middle of the bubble. And right now, the country is looking "seriously underprovided" on the housing front. More»

Construction, manufacturing particularly hit hard

(NEWSER) - Only 7% of people who lost their jobs since the financial crisis of 2008 have returned to jobs as good as or better than the ones they used to have, reports the New York Times . Most people who have found new work say it is less lucrative, and 15% say that reduction has been "dramatic" and most likely permanent, according to a new study released today by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers. “The news is strikingly bad,” said a professor of public policy and political science, adding that the numbers represent “a tremendous impression of dislocation and pain and wasted talent.” More»

Housing prices are the real culprit

(NEWSER) - The recession is hurting most of us, but Gen X has taken the brunt of it—thanks to housing prices that fell off a cliff 5 years ago and are still tumbling. Consider the 30-year-old Gen-Xer who bought a house in 2006 for $250,000. That value has now dropped by a third, hurting any chance of a comfortable retirement. Compare that to a Baby Boomer of the same age who bought a house in 1991 for $100,000: Sure, it's lost value in the downturn, but its median selling price is still $170,000. More»

It avoided harsh austerity measures and is doing better: Paul Krugman

(NEWSER) - Markets are thrilled that Europe finally cut a deal, "however vague the details and however inadequate it may prove," writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . The deal is better than nothing, he writes, but it once again highlights the misguided doctrine he says is doing great harm to the US and Europe: the idea "that, in the aftermath of a financial crisis, banks must be bailed out but the general public must pay the price." At a time when governments should be spending to create jobs, they're buying into the false notion that austerity will work instead. More»