The District Sentinel Discontent Index dropped on a monthly basis by almost four points in December, as the end of a major strike caused by the Ebola virus and workplace safety cleared up a spike in labor market grumbles.
The index fell at the end of 2014 to 107.02, from a slightly revised 110.84 in November—a decrease of 3.82 points. The measure also fell on a yearly basis by 10.66 points, down from 117.68 in December 2014.
All three components declined, but Labor Discontent fell most dramatically—by 3.25 points to 29.55, from 32.80.
Consumer Discontent and Housing Discontent each fell by less than half a point–to 32.74 and 44.73, from 33.18 and 44.86 respectively.
In November, the Discontent Index and Labor Discontent were up on a monthly basis by 1.78 points and 2.6 points. The increase was caused by a 19,000 worker strong walkout by nurses in California and Washington DC. The healthcare workers’ action was aimed at protesting the way their employer, Kaiser Permanente, had ordered them to treat Ebola patients.
The number of workers involved in “major work stoppages” in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics was, however, higher in December than it was in October. At the end of 2014, 4,600 employees were listed as taking part in the significant strike actions. Two months prior, those ranks numbered 4,200.
Driving the Labor Discontent down to a level lower than it was in October were changes in other subcomponents reflecting continued economic recovery. Unemployment and underemployment both fell in December, while the employment-to-population ratio remained constant—movement that indicates the decrease in unemployment was caused by increased demand for laborers, not workers dropping out of the labor market.
Consumer Discontent and Housing Discontent would have been lower–due to a sharp drop in the cost of transportation and a 0.12 decrease in the rate of seriously delinquent FHA-backed mortgages–but the average weekly earnings datum used in the measures was down by almost $2.
November and October data were revised upward slightly, by 0.01 and 0.04 due to more complete information about consumer price indexes.
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 recession trough of 4.4 percent.
Find out more about the Discontent Index and its components and inputs here.
