Report: Without More Investment in the Young, Middle Class Could Disappear
 |
In “The State of Young America: The Databook,” the economic experts at Demos demonstrate that by virtually every measure, the fortunes of America’s young people are falling under a deluge of debt, shrinking opportunity, rising costs of living and lack of access to health care. Writing with members of the Young Invincibles think tank, the authors write:
The path that each young person takes during their young adulthood often largely determines whether they end up in the middle class as older adults. Given the nation’s current anemic levels of investment in young people, the existence of our future middle class is severely imperiled.
The Databook looks at the well-being of 18- to 34-year-olds across the span of a generation in such areas as income, higher education and family life. Notable among the findings is that as the business environment became increasingly hostile to unionization, the fortunes of young people fell. Today, the Databook tells us, only 10 percent of young people have union representation, compared with 20 percent in 1980. Consequently, with few exceptions, only those who have attained a bachelor’s degree have seen their incomes rise over the course of the past three decades. (Once exception would be those who find their way into a trade union apprenticeship.) Read the rest of this entry »
Trumka: Wins in November—Path to Jobs in Future
 |
||||
|
||||
Elana Guiney, Communications and Research director for the Oregon AFL-CIO, sends this report on the start of the Labor 2010 campaign season in Oregon.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka kicked off the Labor 2010 campaign season in Oregon this week with two full days of events, including a town hall meeting on jobs, with more than 500 union members from across Oregon. The crowd filled the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) hall in Portland and spilled into overflow seating in the parking lot.
Trumka was joined by Oregon gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber, who has spent his career working for Oregonians as an emergency room doctor, as an elected official and through programs to help expand health care to all Oregonians while bringing down costs.
Both Trumka and Kitzhaber laid out their priorities—bringing back manufacturing jobs; stopping the demonization of our hardworking public employees, teachers and front-line workers; prioritizing policies that help us all get ahead; and electing working family candidates.
Three Oregonians whose lives have been directly affected by the recession told their stories.
Middle Class Task Force Addresses Child Care, College Costs, Retirement Security
The White House Task Force on the Middle Class today announced several initiatives it says will help middle-class families afford soaring child care costs, care for their aging relatives, cope with the challenge of saving for retirement and pay for their children’s college tuition.
President Obama says the measures will help “ease the burdens on middle-class families who are struggling in this economy, and provide the help they need to get ahead.” The White House says Obama will discuss these and other vital middle-class issues, including job creation and health care in his State of the Union address Wednesday.
The Task Force chairman, Vice President Joe Biden, says the initiatives were developed after a series of meetings during the past year with working families around the country and at the White House.
Every day, middle-class families go to work and help make this country great. For a year, our Task Force has been hearing that they are struggling with soaring costs and squeezed family budgets. These common sense initiatives will help these families cope with these challenges.
600,000 Jobs Lost: How Bad Does It Have to Get for Republicans to Act?
 |
|
With today’s unemployment report showing nearly 600,000 jobs lost in January—worsening the U.S. unemployment rate from 7.2 percent to 7.6 percent—will obstructionist Republicans in Congress finally move the economic recovery bill?
From Bloomberg:
“Last month’s losses mark the first time since records began in 1939 that job cuts exceeded half a million in three consecutive months.”
While the official unemployment rate of 7.6 percent is really bad, the unofficial rate—which includes underemployed workers and those who have become too discouraged to look for work—is 13.8 percent. Some 21.5 million workers are either unemployed, working part time for economic reasons or dropping out of the labor force because they can’t find work.
Helping Low-Income Families Is Good for Business, Government
It’s not unusual for state legislatures to hand out tax breaks, subsidies and other financial goodies to Big Business. But shamefully, some lawmakers need to be convinced to focus on the needs of low-income working families.
 |
|
The Sloan Work and Family Research Network at Boston College has pulled together a compelling list of the challenges low-income working families face and how legislation aimed at those working families benefits the state and the business community.
The latest installment of the group’s Policy Leadership Series reports:
Legislation supporting low-income working families can meet the state’s fiscal goals, encourage workforce participation and promote a healthy, productive workforce.
