Unemployment improvements nullified by perception that new jobs are not paying as much as they did prior to recession, or that many new jobs are part-time.
Belief is that primarily rich and maybe upper middle class have the money to invest in the market, so the gains to the record highs have benefited those that had money to start off with. While this is not anything new, the fact is that many people got squeezed out of the market when everything blew up, so there are many who would have previously been active in the market who lost it on the way down but could not get back in for the rise back up.
Same goes with real estate, highest value gains are in the higher worth homes. Most starter homes, modest homes, or condos have not seen parallel recoveries in price.
Economy is not imploding but for many not improving. Food prices are higher, gas prices (until recently) were higher, deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance cost for health care have risen, albeit more slowly but still with ever increasing costs, , a majority of employer-based retirement contributions which were lost during the recession have not been reinstated forcing employees to contribute more just to 'stay even'….all while wages have not risen. Raises take place in less frequent intervals and are on average very low compared to the past
In the past, corporate profits would improve and employees would feel that to some downstream effect….companies would hire more, give out raises, bonuses, throw some extra bucks toward retirement, and provide a kick-a$$ holiday party. Now, corporate profits are record breaking but less and less people see themselves as reaping any associated benefits.
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