Channel: Economy
June Job Loss Hit Most Industries
 |
|
The 437,000 jobs lost in June were spread throughout most U.S. industries, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Manufacturing employment fell by 136,000 in June, while employment in construction decreased by 79,000. Job losses in professional and business services shot up in June, with the industry shedding 118,000 jobs. Retail trade employment was down by 21,000 in June.
Education and health care employment increased by 34,000, and employment in government dropped by 52,000 in June.
The overall unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent in June, putting it at a 26-year high.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said today’s jobs data show that creating jobs is the key to a full economic recovery.
Congress and the Obama administration need to continue to remain focused on stimulus efforts to end the recession. Additionally, this is not just a problem in the United States, but at this stage, job loss is the vortex of the global economic crisis. To address this problem we believe that all governments should focus an extra 1 percent of GDP [gross domestic product] for stimulus focused on job creation.
Unemployment Rate Hits 9.5 Percent—a 26-Year High
The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 9.5 percent in June, a 26-year high, and up slightly from 9.4 percent in May. Some 467,000 jobs were lost in June, according to data released today by the Department of Labor.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million. That is an increase of more than 100,000 over the job loss in May.
This is the 18th straight month of job loss, with 6.5 million jobs gone since the start of the recession in December 2007.
Postal Unions Slam Saturday Mail Cut Plan
 |
|
Six days a week, 144 million U.S. homes and businesses count on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to deliver the mail. Now, in a cost-cutting move, the USPS wants to slash Saturday mail delivery and the nation’s two largest postal unions say it is a disastrous proposal.
Letter Carriers (NALC) President Bill Young says stopping six-day delivery would have a profound impact on the Postal Service, its costumers and Letter Carriers across the country:
The NALC’s position on this issue should be crystal clear: We oppose the elimination of six-day delivery. Downsizing the Postal Service to meet the needs of a severely depressed economy is short-sighted and self-defeating—it will cost us tens of thousands of jobs and open the way to competitors to provide service on the sixth day.
The USPS is conducting a study of dropping Saturday delivery as part of an overall move to cut costs and is seeking comments from various stakeholders. Postal Workers (APWU) President William Burrus says his advice is simple: “Don’t do it!”
New Plant Closing Bill: ‘FOREWARNED’ Is Better Armed
 |
|
The WARN Act, passed in 1988, was supposed to require employers to give workers and the surrounding community a 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs, providing workers a head start in preparing to find another job and communities a chance to brace for the economic impact.
But loopholes, exceptions and weak enforcement have undermined the act, say a group of lawmakers who have introduced new legislation (S. 1734 and H.R. 3042) to strengthen the WARN Act—the Federal Oversight, Reform and Enforcement of the WARN Act (FOREWARN).
Says Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the chief sponsor of the bill, along with Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.):
Mass layoffs send shock waves through individual households and entire communities. This bill is about protecting workers and helping communities respond to mass layoffs. The WARN Act was supposed to give employees time to find a new job. Unfortunately, fair notice has become the exception not the rule.
Women’s Chamber of Commerce Endorses Public Health Plan Option
One the largest groups of women business leaders in the nation called this week for comprehensive health care reform that includes a “a robust” public health plan option.
In a report to Congress, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, with more than 500,000 members, writes:
Americans should also have the choice of a robust government lead a public plan to take on the insurance carriers, provide vigorous competition, and assure all Americans have access to affordable health care.
Today’s the Day to Make Your Voice Heard on Health Care
 |
|
Thousands of union members, community activists and health care advocates from across the country will converge on Capitol Hill today to demand that Congress pass health care reform legislation that provides quality health care for all.
Today’s rally and lobby day sponsored by Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) is expected to be the largest-ever health care reform rally. It’s taking place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Upper Senate Park.
The rally will provide a much-needed voice on Capitol Hill for millions of families that are uninsured, under-insured and fed up with being at the mercy of insurance companies. Participants will call for real change in health care, including a public health insurance option for workers and families who either have private insurance or no coverage at all.
House Health Care Reform Plan a ‘Crucial Roadmap’
With thousands of union, health care and community activists set to descend on Capitol Hill tomorrow in what could be the largest ever rally for health care reform, the AFL-CIO is telling House committees this week that comprehensive reform must lower costs, improve quality and cover everyone.
Last week, House Democrats introduced a health care reform plan that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney calls:
a crucial roadmap for what health care reform should look like. Working families are desperate for an American solution that encourages choice, competition and opportunity for all Americans to choose the health care that works for them.
This week, the three House committees that developed the health care reform roadmap—Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means—are holding a series of hearings on the plan. In testimony for all three panels, Gerald Shea, AFL-CIO assistant to the president, says reform must build upon what works.
Sweeney, Global Unions Call for Stronger Stimulus Measures
Workers are the innocent victims of the worldwide economic crisis and their governments must take stronger actions to stimulate the global economy, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told the leaders of the world’s top economies today.
Governments should ensure that their recovery measures are big enough to maintain and protect jobs and provide social protections, Sweeney told the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) annual forum June 23-24 in Paris.
Health Care Survey: Costs Out of Control, Need for Reform ‘Urgent’
 |
|
Out-of-control health care costs are forcing working families to forgo needed medical care and shredding family bank accounts, while private health insurance companies deny claims and, far too often, refuse to provide coverage.
The results of the 2009 Health Care for America Survey—sponsored by the AFL-CIO and Working America—show that more than half of the 23,460 people who took the survey cannot get the health care they need at a price they can afford and one-third say they forgo basic medical care because of its high price. In a nearly unanimous response, survey takers say health care reform is urgent.
Says AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker:
Our current system is broken and this survey shows how our fractured system hurts both the insured and uninsured alike. The time for real health care reform is now. We simply can’t wait any longer.
Green Jobs Growing Faster Than Other Industries
The renewable energy industry has grown steadily over the past decade, adding jobs at more than twice the national rate, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
“The Clean Energy Economy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America” reports on the first-ever count across all 50 states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments that supply the growing market demand for environmentally friendly products and services.
The study found that solar and wind-power companies, energy-efficient light bulb makers, environmental engineering firms and others expanded their workforce by 9.1 percent from 1998 to 2007, while the average job growth in all industries was 3.7 percent.
