More than Half Touched (Sometimes Punched in the Gut) by Recession

It's been six months since my last post. I stopped writing because I got a pretty good contract gig which has now ended. Back to being unemployed or underemployed, rather - which for a short term is okay - a very short-term.

What inspired me to write again is the fact that nothing's changed on the unemployment front. In fact it might even be worse. A new Pew Research Center report found the recession has hit 55% of American adults - through an unemployment spell, a pay cut or trimmed hours or forced part-time hours.

Some of the more interesting results:

• Whites are more pessimistic about the economy than blacks and Hispanics even though the latter groups are more likely to be unemployed than whites.
• People are saving more - 62% of Americans cut back on spending since December 2007. This has got to be a good thing - America's had a negative savings rate for a long time - something that's unsustainable.
• Congress might not have to officially raise the retirement age as some have suggested. That might happen all on its own.

Among adults ages 62 and older who are still working, a third say they have already delayed retirement because of the recession. And among workers in their 50s, about six-in-ten say they may have to do the same.

And in the name of blatant self-promotion, listen to this story (by me) that aired on Marketplace about a good friend of mine who's trying to scrape by ... and is still trying to scrape by in this oh so fabulously f*ck#d up time.