Credit Card Debt? Wedding Planning? Labor College’s Online Tool Can Help
Zachary Teutsch in the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, announces the launch of a fantastic new resource for all of us to gain and improve our financial literacy.
Most schools don’t teach our kids about avoiding credit card debt. Most of us never had anyone take the time to teach us about the financial implications of a birth, a death, a wedding, a divorce, or retirement. This is because there isn’t much financial education in the United States and most of it is by salespeople who would like us to buy their products.
We know that union members around the country face tough financial issues and would like good, honest, fair information. The National Labor College and AFL-CIO have partnered to provide resources and answers at NLC InvestEd. You can download the NLC’s Investor Handbook, learn about mutual funds, balancing stocks and much more.
Some of the topics covered include:
- Buying A Home
- Children
- College
- Foreclosure
- Loss of a Loved One
- Paying Off Debt
- Retirement
- Weddings
Head over to NLC InvestEd and check it out.
As working people, our financial security is under threat and the AFL-CIO knows that having better information about financial issues is one more way we can push back. If you have questions about this new project, leave them as comments here.
Union Plus Helps Pay Union Families’ College Costs
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With the already high cost of college growing each semester, working families are finding it hard to afford higher education for their children. Union Plus, part of Union Privilege, the consumer benefits arm of the AFL-CIO, is helping union members reach their education savings goals with Union Plus college savings grants.
Gary Rothman of Laguna Niguel, Calif., a member of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 277, received a $500 college savings grant to help pay for his son’s college education.
He says:
The $500 Union Plus education grant is just one more way my union is helping my family. To get this extra money is a big help and it’s one more reason to start saving now. ‘Do it for your kid,’ I tell people.
College Grads Face Worst Job Market in Years
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Students graduating from college this spring will face the worst job market for graduates since the Great Depression, a new report says. “The Class of 2011: Young Workers Face a Dire Labor Market Without a Safety Net,” by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), found that unemployment among workers between the ages of 16 and 24 is more than double the national average. In 2010, young workers averaged 18.4 percent unemployment, compared with 9.6 percent overall.
The news is worst for young blacks and Hispanics, who are suffering disproportionately. The unemployment rate for black high school graduates under age 25 and not enrolled in school was 31.8 percent last year and stands at 22.8 percent for Hispanic high school graduates and 20.3 percent for white high school graduates. The unemployment rate for young black college graduates was 19 percent compared with 13.8 percent for young Hispanic graduates and 8.4 percent for young white graduates.
Younger high school graduates also are not keeping pace with their older peers. Their 22.5 percent unemployment rate in 2010 is more than double the 10.3 percent rate among high school graduates age 25 and older.
600,000 Jobs Lost: How Bad Does It Have to Get for Republicans to Act?
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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.
