Bad times hitting poor people the hardest

This may seem pretty obvious, but the truth is different recessions treat income groups in different ways. Back in the 70s, it was the middle-class factory worker that bore much of the pain (really the start of the nation's manufacturing decline). This time, it's the low-income population that, in general, has been hit harder than others. "People who were vulnerable to begin with - those with low incomes, few assets, and less education - have had a more difficult time weathering the financial storm or recovering from setbacks," said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke during remarks today at a conference. From Real Time Economics:

He pointed to a Fed survey showing that lower-income households continue to experience significantly more unemployment than higher-income households. In 2009, nearly one-fourth of the families in the bottom half of the income distribution had at least one member who was out of work for some portion of the year prior to the survey; this rate was about double that of higher-income households. The central bank study also found that lower-income households fell behind on their debt payments at a substantially higher rate than higher-income ones.

Other points of vulnerability, of course, are the cutback of government social services and the increasing pressure on non-profit organizations that deal largely with the poor.