In the days when George Bush‘s economy was growing, the distinguishing mark of that growth was widening income inequality—the rich got richer while the middle class got hammered. In February 2007, a McClatchy Newspapers analysis of the economy found that the median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, had fallen for five straight years. The fruits of the economic growth Bush’s economy mustered initially didn’t exactly accrue to the working class.

Now, in the recession, blue-collar families are getting hit harder than white-collar families:

“This is a blue-collar recession, just like we saw in ’81,” said Andrew Sum, professor of labor economics at Northeastern University. “In fact, we’ve seen no net loss among college graduates. At least not yet.”

In the 14 months after the start of the recession in late 2007, more than 5 million jobs were lost. Close to 70 percent of them belonged to blue-collar workers – an overwhelming majority of whom were male – Mr. Sum said.

Hit particularly hard was the construction sector, where the unemployment rate is about 17 percent, he said.