Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
George Washington Carver
BY RUSS KOESTERICH, CFA WEDNESDAY 11-20
Despite an improving labor market, household spending isn’t picking up enough to fuel a faster U.S. recovery. This missing ingredient of the economic recovery is to blame, says Russ.
Tomorrow, we may get the latest evidence that the jobs market continues to slowly improve when the Labor Department releases its weekly jobless claims report. Yet despite an improving labor market, household spending isn’t picking up enough to fuel a faster recovery.
Why? As I write in my new Market Perspectives paper, Wage Woes, the big missing ingredient is a lack of real income growth. In other words, an improving jobs market isn’t translating into higher wages for the vast majority of the population, meaning very few can get a raise.
Now, how bad is it? Well, if you look over the last 50 or 60 years, household income typically has risen by about 3.5% annually after inflation, fueling a 3.5% or so gain in consumption. However, since the recession ended three years ago, we’ve seen household income gains roughly half of that. And this year, things are even worse. For 2013, real, or inflation-adjusted, household income growth is averaging only about 1%.
There are short- and long-term factors to blame.
Short term: In the short term, one major factor behind the muted wage growth is ongoing political and fiscal uncertainty in Washington. Even though fewer companies are laying employees off now than during the last recession, the pace of hiring isn’t as great as it would have been if there was more stability in Washington. And if hiring doesn’t increase at a faster rate, then there’s no upward pressure on wages.
Long term: Advancing technology is also creating downward pressure on wages, eliminating many middle-income jobs. At the same time, there is the global wage arbitrage, i.e. the fact that many jobs are still going overseas, putting downward pressure on U.S. wages and upward pressure on wages in other countries such as China (though some manufacturing jobs may actually come back to the United States because of the U.S. energy renaissance). Finally, as the labor force participation ratehas dropped — in other words, as fewer people are in the workforce — overall U.S. disposable income growth at the aggregate level has been slowing.
So what does this mean for investors? I expect that income growth will get a bit better in 2014 as the labor market continues to improve and cyclical headwinds start to lesson. However, to the extent that the long-term forces I mention above remain in place, I expect to see slower income growth going forward over the long term.
This, in turn, probably means slower U.S. consumption and a somewhat slower U.S. economy (the somewhat because the U.S. energy renaissance will likely continue, with manufacturing becoming a larger part of the U.S. economy over time). As such, I continue to advocate remaining cautious of sectors dependent on middle-class consumption and I continue to like more manufacturing-focused sectors of the market such as energy and technology.
Russ Koesterich, CFA, is the Chief Investment Strategist for BlackRock and iShares Chief Global Investment Strategist. He is a regular contributor to The Blog and you can find more of his posts here.
Source: December Market Perspectives
a little about me and my expertise – video
LAND SPECIALIST – LAND EXPERT – INVESTMENT BROKER – ARIZONA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPs3kpKR4nY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Phoenix,_Arizona_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona
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Facts of Arizona – year 1848 to 2013
http://walter-unger.com/?p=9507
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Walter Unger CCIM, CCSS, CCLS
I am a successful Commercial Investment Real Estate Broker in Arizona now for 15 years and I worked with banks and their commercial REO properties for 3 years. I am also a commercial landspecialist in Phoenix and a Landspecialist in Arizona.
WHETHER YOU LEASE OR OWN
NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO EXPAND, UPGRADE OR INVEST.
we are at on the a rise of the cycle in Commercial Real Estate. so there is only one way and it’s called we are going up and now is the time for you to expand, upgrade or invest in Commercial Properties in Phoenix. The prices on deals I may get you will not be around forever.
WAITING TO SELL YOUR LAND ? TIMES CHANGE / IT’S TIME
We barely could give land away the last few years, but times are changing. Even in those meager years, I sold more land across the state than most other brokers. Before the real estate crash I was a land specialist in Arizona with millions of dollars of transactions, but then I had to change and also sell other commercial investment properties, which was fun, but I am a Commercial Landspecialist in Arizonal, a Commercial Land Specialist in Phoenix and love to sell land, one acre to thousands of acres.
If you have any questions about Commercial Investment Properties in Phoenix or Commercial Investment Properties in Arizona, I will gladly sit down with you and share my expertise and my professional opinion in Commercial Properties in Phoenix or Commercial Properties in Arizona with you.Obviously I am also in this to make money, but it could be a win-win situation for all of us.
Please reply by e-mail walterunger@ccim.net or call me 520-975-5207 (cell) 602-778-5110 (office direct).
Thank You
Walter
Walter Unger CCIM
Associate Broker
Kasten Long Commercial
2821 E. Camelback Road, Suite 600
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Cell: 520-975-5207
Direct: 602-759-1202
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