Living through a recession or economic downturn may be good for your health, a study on life during the Great Depression has claimed. (Telegraph)

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. Only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open in July, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed. (New York Times)

The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets. (Associated Press)

This recession is taking a particularly heavy toll on business creation, as sources of small-business funding dry up and would-be entrepreneurs become more risk-averse. (Wall Street Journal)

The Obama administration is close to rolling out two initiatives aimed at addressing lingering problems from the financial crisis: A long-delayed effort to cleanse financial firms of their toxic assets, and a $35 billion plan to prop up state programs that help lower-income borrowers get affordable mortgages. (Washington Post)

Some economists are heartened by an obscure measure of buyer sentiment: recreational vehicle sales. RV wholesale shipments jumped 16% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 209,800. That’s a 136% surge from January. (USA Today)

Organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances. The Great Recession made things worse. (Associated Press)

“The end of the recession seems so close that you can almost smell it,” writes Geoff Colvin. “Yet this is exactly the wrong moment to let up on the mean and lean strategies you’ve adopted.” (Washington Post)

For a quintet of small businesses that The New York Times has been tracking for the past year, the persistent recession has hurt some more than others. As fall began, some cautious optimism about a recovery crept into recent interviews. (New York Times)

One economist who believes a “double dip recession” is a real danger is Martin Feldstein, professor at Harvard University. He notes that the current economic upturn is being “force fed” by government stimulus and not driven by the usual business cycle in which growth begets more growth. (CNBC)

Tags: affordable mortgages, double dip recession, economic indicator, health, job search, layoffs, recession, religion in the recession, rv sales, shrinking congregations, small business, toxic assets, unemployment, wealth gap

The unemployment rate for young Americans (aged 16 to 24, excluding students) has exploded to 52.2 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. (New York Post)

As challenging as it is for anyone to find a good job in this economy, it can be even harder for people out of work a long time. Skills atrophy. Demoralization sets in and can become permanent. Some potential employers shy away. (Wall Street Journal)

In perhaps the most concrete evidence to date that the recession is abating, some workers are getting their salaries restored after enduring painful pay cuts over the last year. (CNN/Money)

The recession is bringing major cutbacks to one of the more famously profligate companies in the media industry: Condé Nast. (New York Times)

Economists since the mid-1990s have reckoned that full employment was equivalent to about a 5 percent unemployment rate, taking into account the time required to switch jobs. Now two top economist say the so-called natural rate is higher, perhaps 7 percent. (Bloomberg)

It’s hard to gauge how the Great Recession has impacted our culture: How we interact, how we entertain ourselves, how we worship, what we wear and buy and read and watch. (Associated Press)

Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that’s happened since the 1980s. (Associated Press)

Candidates, consultants and fundraisers say the sharp economic downturn has shrunk the pool of traditional donors to whom they turn for money — and made those who are still giving reluctant to make commitments early in the campaign. (Las Vegas Sun)

“Thank goodness the recession is over and the economy is on the way back up,” writes Steve Rubenstein. “That’s the word from the experts, the analysts and the pooh-bahs. If only someone could pass the word to everybody left over.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

Charles Salak was laid off in August, along with two-thirds of his co-workers, by a wind-tower maker in Columbus, Neb. The company, like its workers, is waiting for jobs to come in so that it can rehire them. (New York Times)

Tags: conde nast, job market, job search, labor department, political fundraising, recession, rehiring, retirement, Social Security, unemployment

A broad survey of Americans has provided striking measures of the recession’s effect on life at home and at work: People are now stuck in traffic longer, less apt to move away and more inclined to put off marriage and buying a house. (Associated Press)

The FDIC, which is rapidly running out of money after a wave of bank failures, is considering a plan to borrow money from some of the nation’s healthier banks in order to continue to rescue the sickest banks. (New York Times)

The number of foreign-born residents of the U.S. declined for the first time since at least 1970, as a recession and tight labor market dented America’s image as the land of opportunity. (Wall Street Journal)

“The end of the world appears to have been postponed,” said Paul Krugman of the economic stimulus package at a seminar in Helsinki. The world economy “does not appear to be falling into an abyss but is still” in trouble. (Bloomberg)

Long after the economy recovers, millions of Americans will be left with a grim legacy of the recession: damaged credit scores. (USA Today)

A new study shows that people who “strategically default” on their mortgages often have high credit scores, in stark contrast with most financially distressed borrowers. (Los Angeles Times)

The recession could lead to an explosion in sexual health problems and unplanned pregnancies, the head of a British agency has warned. (BBC)

New data shows that Maryland is the state to head to if you’re looking for a fat paycheck: average household income there is highest in the country at $70,545. (CNN/Money)

Small business owners in neighborhoods around New York City are banding together and waging campaigns to urge customers to “shop locally.” (New York Daily News)

A “totally free yard sale” was set up recently in rural Pennsylvania so that community members could donate unwanted items to their struggling neighbors. (Fox43)

Tags: credit scores, delayed marriage, FDIC, immigration, mortgage default, paul krugman, recession, relocating, sexual health, small business, traffic, unplanned pregnancy

Why drug dealers are the perfect gurus in a recession. (Financial Times)

The recession has resulted in a “significant” fall in greenhouse gas emissions as manufacturing falls, according to a study by the International Energy Agency. (Telegraph)

The incomes of the young and middle-aged — especially men — have fallen off a cliff since 2000, leaving many age groups poorer than they were even in the 1970s, an analysis of new Census data found. (USA Today)

Throughout the history of American commercial life, one cultural trait has tended to dominate: Americans are optimists. Will the recession cause them to reassess their hopeful worldview? (New York Times)

Why haven’t any Wall Street tycoons been forced to swap their multi-million dollar jobs and custom-made suits for dishwashing and prison stripes, asks Kevin Hall. (McClatchyDC)

With banks tightening their lending standards and credit card companies raising interest rates, borrowers are increasingly turning to an unusual source of money: other people. (Washington Post)

Unable to find steady work, some Americans are ditching the straight life to hike the length of the Appalachian Trail. (Wall Street Journal)

Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio (USA Today)

If we can’t re-regulate more strongly to better protect public funds, the next crisis could be worse than the last one, write Peter Boone and Simon Johnson. (New York Times)

Despite predictions the Great Recession is running out of steam, the House is taking up emergency legislation this week to help the millions of Americans who see no immediate end to their economic miseries. (Associated Press)

Tags: american optimism, appalachian trail, borrowing from friends, drug dealers, drugs, greenhouse gas emissions, layoffs, mancession, personal loans, recession, unemployment, Wall Street

French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants world leaders to drop their obsession with gross domestic product and factor measures like “happiness” into economic indicators. (Associated Press)

Despite fresh signs that the worst may be over for the beleaguered U.S. economy, there has been no letup in public fears about possible financial hardship ahead and there is broad concern that not enough is being done to avert another meltdown. (Washington Post)

With more Americans than ever on food stamps, Randy James takes a look back on the program’s history. (TIME)

A woman is refusing to pay off her Bank of America credit card until she is offered a lower interest rate. (Huffington Post)

Tens of thousands of financially strapped homeowners who have asked lenders to lower their mortgage payments are instead winding up with higher monthly payments and larger debts on their homes. (USA Today)

Some companies are offering career counseling to customers who’ve lost jobs during the recession, hoping to help old friends and win additional loyalty when the economy recovers. (Wall Street Journal)

“This recession, a full-blown economic horror, has left a gaping hole in the heart of working America that is unlikely to heal for years, if not decades,” writes Bob Herbert. (New York Times)

James Altucher has five sacred truths in finance that are no longer true in the middle of The Great Recession. (Daily Finance)

The world has not tackled the problems at the heart of the economic downturn and is likely to slip back into recession, says William White, the former chief economist at the Bank for International Settlements. (Financial Times)

The government has gotten back hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout loans, but it still has more than $2 trillion to wind down. (CNN/Money)

Tags: bailout loans, bank of america, bob herbert, career counseling, credit cards, food stamps, gross domestic product, interest rate, layoffs, randy james, recession, sarkozy

Goodwill stores — which might have been a wardrobe faux pas in better times — are seeing a recession-fueled boost in sales. (Boston Herald)

Basic salaries for executives at top companies jumped 10 percent last year despite the financial crisis, a report said on Monday. (Agence France-Presse)

There is a surge in student interest at the nation’s schools that provide an education in the business and science of funerals, a field that historically garners greater interest as the job market worsens. (Associated Press)

Barbara Ehrenreich and Dedrick Muhammad draw attention to the fact that blacks are the ones who are taking the brunt of the recession, with disproportionately high levels of foreclosures and unemployment. (New York Times)

Morris Dickstein’s new book looks at what the Great Depression did to culture. (The New Yorker)

Do governments and central banks deserve credit for preventing catastrophe? The early verdict from most scholars, executives and government insiders is yes. (Wall Street Journal)

Lehman’s failure marked a beginning rather than an end, and triggered a series of events that affected economies around the world to a much greater degree than the other failures did. (The Big Money)

The recession has come to the Great White Way. Broadway theater attendance plummeted this summer by 9.3% compared with last year. (New York Daily News)

Ryan Sager asks, how will this “depression generation” be shaped by the current economic crisis? (True/Slant)

Tight financial times may have a lasting effect on California’s home buyers and alter the state’s real estate landscape. (Los Angeles Times)

Tags: african americans, broadway attendance, california, Dancing in the Dark, ehrenreich, funeral business, funeral jobs, goodwill, home prices, home sales, Lehman's, Morris Dickstein, real estate, recession, salary

The typical American household made less money last year than the typical household made a full decade ago. (New York Times/Economix)

Marijuana farming has increased during the recession as hard-luck entrepreneurs supplement their income with backyard pot plantations. (Associated Press)

Both Harvard University and Yale University have reported that the value of their respective endowments fell about 30% in the past fiscal year. (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal)

Some 13.2 percent of Americans were living below the poverty line in 2008, the Census Bureau said Thursday. That’s a significant jump from the 12.5 percent poverty rate a year earlier. (Christian Science Monitor)

The stimulus package saved one million American jobs, says top White House economist Christine Romer. (CNN/Money)

This recession-themed iPhone case only costs 99 cents (assembly required). (Case-Mate)

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appearing in a town hall meeting yesterday, said that “absolutely, absolutely,” unemployment will be lower this time next year. (Washington Post/Economy Watch)

Big cars and trucks are out. Smaller ones that offer more for your dollar are in. And many drivers will hang onto the new cars they buy longer. (Associated Press)

Ten economic bubbles in the making. (Clusterstock)

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found that more people are using Internet sites like YouTube and Hulu to relax and escape from the steady flow of bad economic data. (Dallas Morning News)

Tags: 99 cent iphone, auto industry, economic bubbles, Harvard endowment, hulu, marijuana farming, poverty, reduced income, stimulus package, Tim Geithner, Yale endowment, youtube

More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record. (Reuters)

If more mothers were amateur economists, they’d probably tell you to cover your mouth when you frown. That’s because doing so could help prevent a recession. (The Big Money)

Students are borrowing dramatically more to pay for college, accelerating a trend that has wide-ranging implications for a generation of young people. (Wall Street Journal)

Who can afford to retire? Who can afford to take a vacation? Who can afford to stop thinking about making money for one single instant? Nobody we know. (Gawker)

“American innovation has solved daunting problems before and could again. But it would be a mistake to assume that American prosperity will continue on some preordained upward course,” writes Rick Newman. (U.S. News & World Report)

“It is high time the labor market started showing the kinds of improvement the factory sector and financial markets have,” writes Mark Gongloff. (Wall Street Journal)

The number of U.S. workers claiming unemployment benefits fell back last week but remain stubbornly elevated. (Financial Times)

Half of retailers that experience a downturn during a recession never recover, according to an analysis from Credit Suisse Holdings. (Chicago Tribune)

Twice as many people approaching retirement suffer sleepless nights during a recession, according to new research. (Telegraph)

The recession is a good excuse for employers to introduce a pay freeze, but what if you think your hard work deserves greater financial reward? Here are some tips for getting a raise despite the bad economic climate. (CNN/Money)

Tags: food stamps, labor market, pay freezes, recession, retail, retirement, salary, student loans, unemployment, vacation

With housing prices still in the dumps, more Americans are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of renting out their homes. Many are finding that rent checks don’t come close to covering their mortgage payments. (Wall Street Journal)

To the long list of reasons American companies aren’t hiring — business losses, tight credit, consumer retrenchment — add the fact that many of their older workers are unable, or afraid, to retire. (New York Times)

A new study finds that the recession has left many jobless workers struggling to cope with the psychological stress caused by becoming unemployed in a weak economy. (Associated Press)

Many job seekers are willing to accept as little as half of what they were making before, if it means finding a job. (CNN/Money)

Vice President Joe Biden is playing the role of White House voice of optimism about an economic recovery today at the Brookings Institution, saying the $787-billion economic stimulus that Obama signed into law in February is working better “than we had hoped.” (Tribune Media/The Swamp)

A struggling real estate broker is being forced into bankruptcy by the Washington Redskins, who sued to hold her to a 10-year season tickets contract. (Washington Post)

More people are going on camping trips due to the weak economy, trying to save money by enjoying  a simpler existence. (Los Angeles Times)

Although the recession isn’t officially over yet, there is a growing sense that the economy is now in a recovery. But there is also a growing debate about who deserves the credit. (CNN/Money)

Productivity and factory orders are up as the economy continues to flash signals that the recession is coming to an end. (Associated Press)

The heads of the 20 banks that have received the biggest government bailouts were paid nearly 40 percent more last year than other CEOs, a study shows. (Huffington Post)

Tags: bailout, camping, housing prices, recession, recovery, retirement, stimulus, unemployment, washington redskins

Few people like jury duty. But for many people squeezed by the recession, a jury summons holds a new fear: financial ruin. (New York Times)

American manufacturing expanded for the first time in 19 months, and pending sales of existing homes rose more than forecast, indicating the recession has ended. (Bloomberg)

We’ve all met 20-somethings who’ve been coddled by their parents and seem to expect everything to be handed to them. But the economy might just be changing Gen Y’s outlook. (Marketplace)

The same financiers who earned huge bonuses for creating, trading and investing in complex mortgage-backed securities that resulted in trillions of dollars in losses are now hoping to make another score buying and trading the same securities. (Washington Post)

Here’s a chart from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics showing unemployment in metropolitan areas across the U.S. (Huffington Post)

Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the recession. But there’s little agreement about which programs are having the biggest impact. (Wall Street Journal)

The proportion of people ages 16 to 24 who were employed in July was 51.4 percent, the lowest July rate since records began in 1948 and 4.6 percentage points lower than in July 2008. (McClatchy)

With consumers’ credit cards maxed out, many struggling retailers have resurrected layaway to get shoppers back in the aisles. (NPR)

The boss’ perception: Given the rough economy, workers are thrilled just to have a steady paycheck. The employee’s reality: Many are frustrated, secretly seeking new opportunities — and soon could be scooped up by another company as the economy recovers. (USA Today)

It’s that time of year again: young adults are schlepping off to college, many of them for the first time. How are parents handling the whole money conversation during this year’s tough economic times? (Marketplace)

Tags: college, consumer spending, credit cards, generation y, home sales, job search, jury duty, mortgage-backed securities, recession, retail, student spending, unemployment