Janet Yellen on Housing Wealth Lost
on Sunday, October 19, 2014Janet Yellen Money Quotation saying real estate prices for homes have not recovered fully, a loss in American assets for the middle class. Janet Yellen said:
“Widening inequality resumed in the recovery, as the stock market rebounded, wage growth and the healing of the labor market have been slow, and the increase in home prices has not fully restored the housing wealth lost by the large majority of households for which it is their primary asset” — Janet Yellen
In this quote, Janet Yellen is describing some of the economic inequalities that emerged during the economic recovery following the financial crisis and recession. She notes that as the stock market rebounded, wage growth and improvements in the labor market were slow.
Most households also did not fully regain the housing wealth they had lost, as home price increases did not make up all the value lost. So while some measures of the economy like stock prices improved, the recovery did not equally benefit many workers and households.
Yellen seems to be pointing out that these uneven effects of the recovery contributed to a “widening inequality” where the benefits were not shared proportionally across socioeconomic classes. She is highlighting growing economic disparities as part of the aftermath of the crisis and recession.