The District Sentinel Discontent index increased in April for the first time in 2015, ending a downward trend that had started in December.
The measure increased slightly to 105.01 from a post-2008 collapse low of 104.89. The uptick was largely caused by a gain in Consumer Discontent that did more than neutralize a decline in Labor Discontent.
Driving the Consumer Discontent gains were a drop in the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index and a slight decrease in the weekly wage earnings of non-supervisory workers.
Labor Discontent fell on the back of declining employment and underemployment. The number of workers involved in major strike actions measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not fluctuate much between March and April.
Housing Discontent, meanwhile, only increased by 0.04 points to 44.22. Decreased consumer earnings and an increased cost in the BLS Housing Consumer Price Index washed out a 0.04 percentage point drop in the rate of seriously-delinquent FHA-backed mortgages.
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.
