September Jobless Rate: Even Worse Than It Looks
September’s jobs numbers are worse than we thought even a few hours ago. After a couple of months of encouraging news, the latest report took a decided turn for the worse.
The basic data show that the nation lost 263,000 jobs in September, after falling 463,000 in June, 304,000 in July and 201,000 in August. The official unemployment rate now is 9.8 percent, a figure exceeded in awfulness only by the unofficial jobless rate: 17 percent.
In fact, the number of unemployed rose “only” by 214,000 because 571,000 people abandoned the labor market.
More Poverty, Lower Wages, Shrinking Health Care. The USA Today
New data out from the U.S. Census Bureau yesterday show a nation on the decline: Millions more Americans are in poverty and hundreds of thousands more are without health insurance compared with a year ago—and our median household income is now the lowest since 1997.
As Time’s Justin Fox puts it:
I don’t know how much of this was bad luck and how much was bad policy (nobody does), but there’s really no getting around the fact that the Bush presidency was an economic debacle. Americans got poorer on his watch.
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.
U.S. Unemployment Rate Now 9.4 Percent
In May across the nation, 345,000 jobs were lost, worsening the U.S. unemployment rate to 9.4 percent, according to data released today by the Department of Labor.
There are now 14.5 million jobless U.S. workers, a number that doesn’t reflect the severity of the problem. If those who are underemployed or who want a job but have given up looking are counted, the broader U.S. unemployment rate stands at 16.4 percent—more than
25 million Americans who need jobs or full-time work but cannot find it.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 268,000 over the month to 3.9 million and has tripled since the start of the recession in December 2007.
Big Business Likes Arbitration—If It Can Control the Process
Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act, desperate in their efforts to kill the proposed legislation that would level the playing field for workers seeking to form unions, have come up with another line of attack. They are making a lot of noise over the bill’s arbitration provision. The argument is just another straw-man attempt at gutting legislation that would enable more workers to have a voice on the job. (And one more sign of desperation—to wit, the trotting out of widely loathed figures like Dick Cheney and Karl Rove to attack the Employee Free Choice Act.)
Here’s the deal. Even after employees select a union to represent them, they need to bargain a first contract. But there’s no incentive for management to bargain in good faith. The longer contract negotiations are dragged out, the less likely one will ever be settled. In fact, nearly half of workers are denied a first contract, even when they’ve won their union.
Generations Must Stand United for Employee Free Choice Act
 |
||||
|
||||
Barbara J. Easterling was elected president of the Alliance for Retired Americans in February. She was previously the secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. For more information, visit www.retiredamericans.org or call 1-888-633-4435.
Our nation’s economic crisis is affecting nearly everyone. Unless you are getting one of those big Wall Street bonuses, you are probably struggling to pay your bills, keep your home, or afford to see a doctor or fill a prescription. There is no longer any doubt that the fundamentals of our economy are broken.
One way out of this mess—and a way to help both current and future retirees—is for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Employee Free Choice Act recognizes that our middle class is in trouble because more and more, big corporations hold all the cards. As they lavish their CEOs with bonuses and golden parachutes, they slash jobs and cut all the wrong corners on customer service and safety. They break their promises to workers and retirees, leaving millions without health care and retirement plans.
No Solar Sweatshops or Wal-Mart Windmills
When it comes to making the connection between how union membership can benefit low-wage workers, create green jobs and, ultimately, bolster the nation’s sinking economy, Ian Kim gets it.
Kim is director of the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign at the Los Angeles-Oakland-based Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He says President Obama’s economic recovery package offers the opportunity to connect low-wage workers with quality union jobs—quality “green jobs.” In Kim’s words:
We’re not talking about solar sweatshops or Wal-Mart windmills.
Why Retirees Should Care About Employee Free Choice Act
 |
|
George J. Kourpias, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, urges union retirees to contact their lawmakers and ask them to support the Employee Free Choice Act. For more information, visit our website at www.RetiredAmericans.org or call 1-888-373-6497.
Unions built the middle class. By standing together, we fought for and won better wages, health care and pensions and safety and respect on the job.
But much of what we achieved is crumbling in today’s troubled economy. Many of us worry that our children and grandchildren will not live as well as we have. More than ever, American workers need the good wages and benefits that they can best achieve through collective bargaining.
If CEOs Take Our Money, We Can Limit Their Pay
We applaud—big time—the move by President Obama to limit the pay of CEOs on the taxpayer dole. If they can take our money to survive, they can cut back on the yachts and third homes. The Obama plan would cap salaries at $500,000 for top executives at firms that accept “extraordinary assistance” from the government.
As the Economic Policy Institute noted, the financial services industry pays its CEOs more than any other industry—in 2007, those salaries averaged nearly $18 million. Even the median salary—the typical CEO salary, with half of all CEOs earning less—is massive, with median CEO pay in financial services roughly $16.5 million in 2007.
Contrast this with the average wage in 2006 of a U.S. worker—$37,078. The median wage is even lower—$24,892.
