It's not all gloom-and-doom as far as the downturn goes, I guess...
"Worker Fatalities Fall 17% on Decline in Construction Deaths" (Bloomberg)
U.S. workplace deaths fell 17 percent in 2009 to a record low on a decline in construction fatalities, as unemployment surged to the highest level in a quarter century.
There were 4,340 deaths across all industries, compared with 5,214 a year earlier. Fatalities among private construction firms dropped 16 percent in 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today in a statement.
Workplace injuries have been falling for more than a decade, according to the National Council of Compensation Insurance. Workers’ compensation insurers that are facing lower sales and rising medical costs may benefit from a decline in job-related accidents as U.S. payrolls shrink. New claims for unemployment jumped 500,000 in the week ended Aug. 14.
“Economic factors played a major role in the fatal work injury decrease in 2009,” the bureau said in the statement.
Construction spending dropped 15 percent in 2009, the worst performance on record, signaling an industry at the forefront of the economic crisis will be slow to rebound.
Construction has “fallen off a cliff,” said Ed Priz, president of Riverside, Illinois-based Advanced Insurance Management LLC, a consulting firm, in an interview on Aug. 11. “It reflects a shift in the kind of work Americans are doing. There are a lot less hazardous jobs.”
This article strikes a profound note. The removal of the superfluity in all its forms surrounding us in our society will yield the hard core of American resolve and ingenuity.
Suffering will be a product of this unburdening.
But the gleeful woe of the doomster is misplaced.
A renewed appreciation of our roots, a quickened sense of opportunity, a much-needed re-prioritization and a refreshed ethic of personal responsibility will carry us to new heights.
The tsunami rises. Fear is internal. Adjust.
Posted by: francismarion | August 20, 2010 at 08:08 AM
NPR reports this morning that 401K hardship withdrawals in Fidelity Funds customer base are up for the 2nd quarter of 2010 vs. the prior year's 2nd quarter. 45% of the people who made a hardship withdrawal a year ago also made one this year. It does not bode well for the future retirement security of many Americans. Fidelity's average 401K plan balance was only $61,800, or less than the ANNUAL pension of a retired California teacher I know.
Posted by: Rocky | August 20, 2010 at 10:28 AM