We’ve just posted the January edition of State of the Economy. This is a monthly publication that pulls together key economic developments both locally and nationally. It also includes the most recent data available about referrals made by United Way 2-1-1.

A few highlights from our most recent issue:

• Both local and national unemployment rates remained steady in January at 10% (U.S.) and 7.4% (MN) respectively.
• Lender-mediated home sales averaged $124,000 in the Twin Cities in 2009 compared to $204,000 for traditional home sales.
• The Twin Cities’ housing inventory is down 22% from a year ago.
• Teenagers are experiencing the highest unemployment rates nationally (27%) while women and Asians are experiencing some of the lowest rates (8%).
• Weekly wages declined 1.6% in 2009 when inflation is factored in.
• TCF is ending its “Totally Free Checking” program. More than 1,000,000 accounts that were previously free will be charged a monthly maintenance fee beginning early this year.
• Target Corp. is opening fewer than 10 new stores this year, but is renovating 340 stores already in operation.
• UnitedHealth Group reported fourth quarter profits up 30% and profits for the year up 28%.
• United Way 2-1-1 made nearly 175,000 referrals for basic needs in 2009. More than one-third of these were for either emergency food or emergency shelter.

For more news on the local and national economy, read the full report (including graphics!) here. 

What is the state of your economy? What one issue has had the most impact on you, your family, or your work in the past year? What do you think the State of the Economy will be next year at this time? Let me know, and I’ll post selections of the answers I receive.

Is inequality worse for us than poverty? That’s what Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argue, sometimes convincingly, in their book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.

Wilkinson and Pickett examine income inequality across 23 countries. (Income inequality is measured in many ways, but one typical measure is to compare the income of the richest 20% of the population to the income of the poorest 20% of the population.) In Japan, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, the richest 20% are about four times as rich as the poorest 20%. At the other end of the spectrum (i.e., the U.S. and Singapore), that is more than doubled, which is to say that the U.S. has very high inequality (only Singapore is worse).

Does it matter? Absolutely, say Wilkinson and Pickett. They tie inequality to many of our major social populations:

If you fail to avoid high inequality, you will need more prisons and more police. You will have to deal with higher rates of mental illness, drug abuse, and every other kind of problem.

Take the example of health and life expectancy. The United States spends more per person ($6,000) on healthcare than any other country. You’d think that would at least put us in the top half for life expectancy, wouldn’t you? But no. In fact, only 3 of the 23 countries have lower life expectancies than the U.S. (those would be Portugal, which spends about $1,800 per person; Denmark, which spends about $2,800 per person; and Ireland, which spends about $2,500 per person). Highest life expectancy goes to Japan, which spends about $2,200 per person. The same pattern holds for infant mortality and teen pregnancy (see chart).

Conclusion? The more equally wealth is distributed in a society, the better the health of that society. They examine social relations, mental health, drug use, life expectancy, violence and homicide rates, obesity, education, teen pregnancy rates, incarceration rates and social mobility. The pattern holds.

Not convinced? They also look at inequality within the United States, and compare many of these same social ills across states, and the same pattern obtains. The authors contend that if the United States could reduce its income inequality to the average of the four most equal countries (Japan, Norway, Sweden, Finland), we would see:

• The proportion of the population feeling they could trust others increase by 75%
• Rates of mental illness drop by two-thirds
• Rates of obesity drop by two-thirds
• Teen birth rates cut in half
• Prison populations reduced by 75%

Now that’s something worth striving for!

Photo by mitikusa

I finished my 2009 books-read list over the weekend—always a fun project. Here are 9 of my favorites from the year:

Sabbath, by Wayne Muller. My favorite book of the year, hands down. This is a book I give reverence to, a book that I found grounding and wise with the occasional slap. Read this if you have many things going in your life and you sometimes feel like you don’t know up from down.

Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed, by Paul Mason. Read this if you’re looking for a better understanding of how the economic meltdown happened, or feel stupid because you still don’t understand what derivatives are or how they work (a lot of bankers don’t, either). Surprisingly fun and compelling for an economics book.

Agenda for a New Economy, by David C. Korten. Read this if you wonder what our economy might look like if it focused more on Main Street than Wall Street.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson. Read this if you like period pieces and are looking for something gentle. Bonus: Frances McDormand is in the movie version which has one significant difference from the book.

Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals, by Agha Shahid Ali. Read this if you have a fondness for ghazals in particular, poetry forms in general, or if you’re simply looking for a seriously good poetry book. 

Listening Below the Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence, by Anne D. LeClaire. Read this book if the idea of an hour of silence makes your heart sing.

Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate, by Wendy Johnson. Read this if you’re interested in food, health, nature, cooking, gardening, organics, environment, zen, mythology, spirituality, sustainability, obesity, local farming, or community-supported agriculture. A multidimensional book that’s hard to categorize. Happy making.

The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber. Read this memoir if you wonder about the torn life of an immigrant—missing the homeland, the sweet pull of memory, but also anticipation and excitement over the challenges and possibilities of a new country. If you prefer fiction, try Abu-Jaber’s Crescent, which I also read this year and liked very much.

Gut Symmetries, by Jeanette Winterson. I love Winterson. Seriously, I think she could publish a book of ampersands and I would probably think it was brilliant. This novel is a blend of physics and romance (with a dash of horror)—what better combination? Read this if you enjoy books where you think you’re probably missing 30% of what the author is saying.

A good year for books. Happy New Year (a tad late) to you and yours, and best wishes for good books in 2010!