Writing in the latest Money magazine, CNN’s Ali Velshi highlights some economic news that can’t bode well for the current administration.
At 8.2%, the unemployment rate is almost a full percentage point lower than it was a year and a half ago. Two problems: First, that number is still high. Second, it’s stopped declining as the rate of job creation has slowed to a crawl.
The income numbers are even worse: The inflation-adjusted median wage fell 2% in 2011, after ticking down 0.5% in 2010. So our income score declined from 4.2 to 1.5 [on a 10-point scale]. … The data so far for 2012 show wages are flat, which isn’t exactly cause for celebration.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan no doubt hope voters will continue to focus on numbers like these rather than the issues President Obama’s supporters have highlighted in recent weeks.