The stock market is lying: Wall Street booms, your bank account drowns

The health of the American economy is too often evaluated by metrics that mean absolutely nothing to a family trying to stay afloat. Stock market highs and aggregate growth figures might satisfy financial commentators on television, but they don’t pay the mortgage or guarantee long-term career security.

The real economic health of our country is measured by the stability of our local workspaces, the purchasing power of an average salary, and the confidence workers feel when looking at their savings. Comprehensive data from the Gallup Most Important Problem Report continuously show that localized job quality and daily cost-of-living worries matter far more to citizens than abstract national employment data.