A clear and persistent legacy of the Great Recession is the country’s high national unemployment rate, which has hovered at 9 percent or greater since May 2009. It has been less clear, however, how the economic downturn has impacted the collective wealth of U.S. households.
Update: The USDA’s “Cost of Raising a Child” report has been released for 2011.
School lunches don’t generally get a lot of love. Students often accuse the food of being bland and the portions skimpy, while nutritionists say the levels of fat are too high and real nutrition scarce. School districts don’t have it any easier, as they’re caught between rising costs, federal standards, and the need to keep students happy — a tricky proposition at best, as all parents know.
Disparities in personal wealth in America are often measured along the lines of gender, race and geography. As economic shifts continue, however, an emerging divide relates to the age of the household head. Recently the gap between older and younger households has widened dramatically, sharpening concerns that new generations of Americans may not enjoy the progress that previous generations did.
As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, U.S. policymakers are struggling to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security. In 1990 there were roughly five people of working age for every retiree; by 2035, that ratio is expected to diminish to three to one, according to the 2011 Social Security Board of Trustees report.
