The District Sentinel Discontent Index fell in July to another new low as data showed improved conditions in the housing market and a decrease in nationwide strike activity.
The measure fell to 102.52 from 103.65 in June, with a drop in Labor Discontent and Housing Discontent more than washing out an increase in Consumer Discontent.
The only subcomponent of the Discontent Index to grow, Consumer Discontent was up 0.47 points to 32.57, driven by a fall in the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index.
Although higher wages were canceled out by an increase in living costs, Housing Discontent was down 1.13 points to 43.00 on a 0.4 percent decrease in serious delinquency rates measured by the Federal Housing Administration. The measure of troubled borrowers, which fell to 6.0 percent in July, had previously fluctuated this year between 6.5 and 6.4 percent, from January to June.
Labor Discontent, meanwhile, was down 0.48 points to 26.95 largely because no major work stoppages, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, occurred.
The last time the the Discontent Index fell below 104 points was in April 2008. It had increased then on a month-over-month basis by 1.93 points to 101.83 in the run-up to the Wall Street-caused global financial collapse.
Between its January 2004 baseline (DI=99.9, all three sub-indexes=33.3) and its public launch in late 2014, the Discontent Index peaked at 144.35 in Aug. 2011 – one month before the Occupy Wall Street movement started. Its record low was 87.65 in Dec. 2006 – when unemployment reached a post-tech bubble trough of 4.4 percent.
Find out more about the Discontent Index and its components and inputs here.
