blue-collar depression (vs. white-collar recession)

An important and oft-overlooked distinction from Janice Nittoli in the WSJ...

Today's job losses are concentrated among workers under 30 who are less well-educated, with those in blue-collar industries suffering the most. Employment in construction, maintenance and repair, machine-operation and transportation (think truck and bus drivers) has shrunk 18% since the recession's start.

To put this number into context, consider this: During the Great Depression of 1929-33, total employment is estimated to have fallen by slightly more than the same figure, 18%. In short, the current Great Recession for younger blue-collar workers feels more like a depression—with no end in sight....

Nittoli wrestles with a variety of policy approaches from there...