The District Sentinel Discontent index in May increased by the largest amount in two years.
The measure was up to 106.7 from 105.01 due to a sharp uptick in strike action that drove a significant one-month increase in Labor Discontent. The subcomponent grew to 30.25 from 28.75 in May.
Consumer Discontent was up in May by 0.28 points to 32.31 while Housing Discontent did not fluctuate, remaining steady at 44.22.
The number of workers involved in major strike activity measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics–a Labor Discontent input–ballooned by 13,600 after teachers in Washington state voted to walkout over pay and funding for public education.
Consumer Discontent was kept up by high prices. A slight increase in both the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index and in weekly non-supervisory earnings were washed out by a 2.6 percent one-month increase in the transportation consumer price index.
Housing Discontent, meanwhile, remained the same despite a slightly higher serious delinquency rate measured by the Federal Housing Administration. Keeping the measure down was earnings growth, which outpaced a slight increase to the cost of living.
The last time the Discontent Index increased by at least this much on a one month basis was in May 2013, when it grew by 2.51 percent. In November 2014, it was up by 1.59 percent. In both instances, the upticks were driven by spikes to Labor Discontent caused by a sudden flurry of strike activity.
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.
