The District Sentinel Discontent index continued to slide in March for the fourth consecutive month, despite an upward revision to the previous month’s reading.
The measure fell to 104.89 from an updated 105.45 in February. The drop was largely caused by modest gains in the housing and labor markets—reflected in downward movement by the Labor Discontent and Housing Discontent subcomponents.
Consumer Discontent fluctuated the least, falling slightly to 31.63 from 31.64. A slight increase to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index was neutralized by rising transportation prices and a slight decrease in the average weekly earnings for non-supervisory employees.
Labor Discontent fell the most in March due to changes in February’s final measurements—caused by an upward revision to underemployment, to 11 percent from 10.8 percent.
It ticked downward in March due to a decline in the number of Americans participating in major strike actions recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ranks of Americans taking part in this strike activity shrank to 6,600, down from 8,300 in February, due to the end of the FairPoint Communications strike in New England. BLS-monitored strike activity in March was carried out entirely employees in the oil industry organized by United Steelworkers.
Meanwhile, Housing Discontent fell largely on the back of a 0.07 percentage point decline in the rate of seriously-delinquent FHA-backed mortgages.
The continued steady decline of the Discontent Index in March meant that the measure once again fell to a new post-financial collapse low.
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.
