American Middle Class Financial Portrait

Europe looks towards the Uniteds States economy as to a mirror and so do almost all the other countries. American middle class families are a model of prosperity and well being to the whole world.
But I'd like to share with you this financial report to check how things are going on now.

Real Estate Sector

Image from: http://stawealth.com/images/stories/1dailyxchange/Home-TotalActivityIndex-072513.PNG

In the real estate sector, whose collapse is at the origin of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, home prices are certainly increasing ("12.2% year on year, according to the July S & P/Case Shiller index), and the resale market is also growing.
However, the real estate industry confirms a slowdown in demand this summer, faced with the recent rise in mortgage rates.
The total of the mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was 20 years ago. And the rate of delinquency these mortgages which was of the order of 2 per cent in 2000 is today to almost 10 percent.

The rate of home ownership in the United States is the lowest it has been in 18 years and it has become more expensive than ever to rent a home in America. In fact, the rent charged median rental vacancy comes to reach a new record ever observed.

Retail Sales Sector

Retail US is 'active' at first sight for a year, especially in the sector of the automobile ("0.9% in August). But the consumer confidence declined significantly in September, and the store sales slowed in August ("0.2% after a gain of 0.4% in July), which is a sign that American households is diminishing quickly.
Is that the indebtedness of consumers in the United States increased 1700% since 1971, and 46% of all Americans are to postpone a balance from month to month paying credit card.

Employement

As it confirmed from the most recent statistics (August), unemployment in the United States certainly continues to decline (7.3% or 0.1% less than in July). But the decline is slow. And if unemployment decreases, this is not for good reasons.
This is not so much the hiring which increase than the the growing number of Americans who give up looking for a job.
More than 90 million Americans of working age are considered "not or no longer on the labour market"... What is called the 'participation rate', or the share of the population that has a job or seeking one, fell to 63.2%, a low in 35 years!
In short, Americans abandon the market of labour by the thousands. -516,000 Americans "have left the labour force" only last month. What constitutes a record upward the largest ever observed!
"Employees who have given up work represent three-quarters of the decline in turnout since the start of the recession," in an economic note, deplored the Economic Policy Institute.
Even workers in the prime of life drop out: more than half of people (53.7%) have renounced work are aged 25 to 54.The number of private sector jobs fell by 278,000 last month. 77 percent of the jobs that were "created" so far this year have been part-time jobs.

Not to mention that the quality of jobs created is often unsatisfactory. The U.S. economy continues to exchange jobs paying against low paying jobs.
60 per cent of the jobs lost during the last recession are average wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been in low-wage jobs.
In 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs. According to the Brookings Institution, some 70% of hirings since the end of the recession were in areas with low labour costs, like fast food and retail.

What economists call "McJobs", a reference to low-paying jobs of the type fast-food restaurants.In this regard, the portrait is distressing: adjusted for inflation, wages at McDonald's have not progressed in 50 years, according to American studies.

Household Income

According to the Census Bureau, the median household income was in 2012 and US$ 51 017, almost at the same level in 2011.
It is still 8% at the level of 2007 and 9% below the historic Summit of 1999 (adjusted for inflation). It dropped 7.8 percent since the year 2000.

According to research, between 1969 and 2009, median salaries earned by American men ages 30 to 50 declined 27 per cent taking into account inflation.

French source: http://leblogalupus.com/2013/09/29/breves-de-trottoirs-du-dimanche-29-septembre-2013-la-longue-descente-au-enfer-de-la-classe-moyenne-americaine/