Misery Index Spikes: ‘America First’ vs. American Carnage

The misery index returns, with more still to come

By: Patrick Brethour, The Globe and Mail, August 1, 2022:

The misery index, that unhappy sum of inflation and unemployment rates, has surged to heights last seen three decades ago.

Sharply higher inflation is driving that rise, for now. But the misery index – which aims to distill down to a single number the economic pain caused by rising prices and job losses – is likely to go higher still in the coming months, as the Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest-rate hikes start to weigh down the economy and push unemployment up from its historic low. Inflation, however, is likely to decline only gradually, with the central bank forecasting an average of 7.2 per cent this year.

With the exception of the whirlwind month of May, 2020, it’s been almost 30 years since the misery index has been this high, as the chart below shows. In late 1993, the index stood at 13.1, just ahead of the 13 recorded for June of this year and in May, 2020.

The misery index, that unhappy sum of inflation and unemployment rates, has surged to heights last seen three decades ago.

Sharply higher inflation is driving that rise, for now. But the misery index – which aims to distill down to a single number the economic pain caused by rising prices and job losses – is likely to go higher still in the coming months……

https://gellerreport.com/2022/08/misery-index-spikes-america-first-vs-american-carnage.html/