The Numbers Behind Workers' Financial Fears

Employment

Employment fell by 1.2 million in the first 10 months of 2008. More than half of the decrease occurred from August to October.

Unemployment

The number of unemployed workers increased by 603,000 in October, to 10.1 million. Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has increased by 2.8 million.

Underemployment

In October, 18.4 million workers were underemployed, including 10.1 million unemployed, 1.6 million "marginally attached" workers and 6.7 million people who worked part time but wanted full-time work. That is a 42 percent increase from the 13 million underemployed a year ago.

Job openings

There were 2.9 unemployed workers for every job opening in August, up from 1.9 in January and 1.8 in August 2007.

Median wages

Median weekly wages for full-time workers have fallen 1.6 percent during the past year.

Foreclosures

There were 265,968 home foreclosures in September alone, 21 percent higher than September 2007. There were 765,558 foreclosures in the third quarter, 71 percent higher than the third quarter of 2007.

Pension loss

An estimated $2 trillion in pension wealth has been lost in the past 18 months because of the financial crisis.

Source: Economic Policy Institute, citing data from the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, RealtyTrac and the Congressional Budget Office