[virmundi]

It's positive in that it's tracking with U3. My point is that it unemployment on a daily basis, what mainstream America feels, is still twice as high as the "Full Employment" target set by the Feds.

As to purchasing power, I'm not able to readily find numbers not that. Last I heard, people are working longer hours for the same pay they received in 2007/8. If that's true, they are functionally making less money. I've seen it first hand. People working 45-50 hours to make up for short staffing. However, I only have a few localized, anecdotal data.