Personal Income Trends and College Grads

By Jon Greenberg on Friday, June 19, 2009.

The economy continues its tough slog to recovery. Our weekly economic round-up looks at the ups and downs of personal income and college graduates riding out a lousy job market. NHPR’s Jon Greenberg has the latest.

There are several signs that the recession is easing. The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators was up 1.2% in May. Consumer expectations, building permits and stock prices helped on the positive side.

On the negative side, growing unemployment continued to pull the index down. Separately, the latest figures on personal income aren’t too cheery. The Commerce Department reported totals for the first quarter of 2009. -- down half a percent in the state from the last quarter of 2008. But if you think back, January to March were probably the worst months of the recession.

In terms of personal income, New Hampshire matched the national average – both went down that half a percentage point. But if that pairing continues, the quarter we’re in right now should look better. In April, personal incomes in the US as a whole went up.

In case you’re wondering, a fair chunk of that increase comes straight from the federal stimulus. Personal tax credits boosted incomes by billions of dollars and then there’s the extra $25 in each unemployment check.

Our own call-in show, The Exchange, hosted a group of recent college grads to hear how they are weathering these tough times. One of them is headed off to teach English in China. Dan O’Brien is from Hampstead.

O’BRIEN: A lot of the teaching positions in rural China are filled by uncertified unqualified teachers and the hope is with this is that you bring in people who have been well trained and that you create a sustainable educational program.

Working for little or no money but gaining good experience was a prevailing theme.

The latest note on the Working It Out web page came from one of those recent grads – Justin Rondeau. He wrote about a scene at a local grocery store in Lee. A customer went ballistic over food prices. Justin wrote “This shocked me and made the recession real, when I saw the horror on this women's face and the surprise on the face of the store clerk.”

You can make this economy real for the rest of us. Add your note on the Working It Out page.

With this round-up of the week’s economic news, I’m Jon Greenberg.