Money / unemployment 'Household Misery Index' Hovering Near 30-Year High Economic fear still rampant, new measure shows By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Aug 23, 2010 4:19 PM CDT Copied In this photograph taken July 20, 2010, Orlando Payton looks for work at JobTrain employment office in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) An update of the "Misery Index" from the '70s shows that economic anxiety remains at a high level—just below the all-time high set in December 1982, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Misery, as measured by the blog Paper Economy's "Household Misery Index," dropped in June by .02%, but was .31% higher than the same month last year. Bah. The original Misery Index combined unemployment and inflation, but rampant inflation is not a source of economic pain in the current slump. The Household Misery Index also takes into account the 10-year moving average of "real" personal income and the value of the S&P 500 to capture a long-term sense of income and investment prospects. (More unemployment stories.) Report an error