Recent US indicators have been positive, and this finally includes also employment figures: jobs are created at a steady pace and unemployment is dropping.
The job figures also revealed a drop of many Americans from the work force, and another figure reflects the drop of too many Americans from mainstream society.
No less than 46,268,257 Americans are in need of food stamps as of September 2011 according to figures released by the USDA. This is up from 42.9 million in September 2010 and up from 36.9 million in September 2009.
The economic recovery began in the middle of 2009. It is well known that employment lags the recovery. This lag has been very long in the job market, and when looking at the bottom of society, there was no lag: the recovery never seemed to appear.
On the contrary: the number of people depending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) grew by around 25% during the recovery.
Mish reports about the plan usage and notes that a rise in the usage of food stamps usually marks the beginning of a recession and serves as a leading indicator.
The significant rise of the SNAP program shows that the US is still far from a real, healthy recovery. Those meals are probably not the healthiest either.
Further reading: Real Unemployment Rate – America’s big problem