Data: Workers Worse Off On Pay, Employment
This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they've been in years, according to a scorecard released Monday by Rutgers University.
In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier.
Professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard, said a sharp decline in the number of Americans able to find full-time jobs, along with growing consumer debt and health care costs, were causes for concern.
"But there are some bright spots long term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs, and more Americans who are completely satisfied with their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department last week said the number of people signing up for jobless benefits declined for the third straight period, but remained above 400,000 - an indicator of a slowing economy.
The Rutgers labor scorecard offered other sobering findings:
About 530,000 were subject to mass layoffs in the last year, growth of nearly 5 percent, but a lower rate than five and 10 years ago.
The median weekly earnings for American workers have not grown in real terms over the last eight years.
At $6.55, the federal minimum wage is worth 40 cents less per hour, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was a decade ago.
While employer-assisted childcare and employee wellness programs have grown quickly over the last decade, they still cover less than one quarter of American workers.
Roughly 4 percent of the workforce wants to work full-time, but is working part time because they can't find full-time work.
The scorecard, which doesn't assign grades but charts whether indicators are improving or getting worse, is based primarily on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier.
Professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard, said a sharp decline in the number of Americans able to find full-time jobs, along with growing consumer debt and health care costs, were causes for concern.
"But there are some bright spots long term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs, and more Americans who are completely satisfied with their jobs.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department last week said the number of people signing up for jobless benefits declined for the third straight period, but remained above 400,000 - an indicator of a slowing economy.
The Rutgers labor scorecard offered other sobering findings:
The scorecard, which doesn't assign grades but charts whether indicators are improving or getting worse, is based primarily on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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This ire is turning to unfair prejudice and for some, hatred. But it is a hatred that was EARNED by the right. For their behavior toward government and their arrogance that anyone/everyone different than they must be brought to heel either by cramming laws down their throat or at the point of a gun. The rank and file Republican may not want to admit this, but the GOP already has--the word Republican is quickly approaching the same disdain and ugliness of Nazi in many people''s eyes so that in speaking to others abroad--they turn up their nose in distaste when discussing the US but esp. any who subscribe to the tenets of the GOP. That group has become a joke and a bane on the rest of the world--it would be different if they kept their evil to themselves--but they did not. It was under the Republicans that for the first time, America had to remove its name from the Geneva Conventions and our President had to seek protection from prosecution for potential war crimes--THAT is what the ideas of the GOP has wrought and Republicans are roundly despised for that and for Bush. This sentiment is not simply something shared by Dems and liberals--many Independents share it and the rejection of Republican hypocrisy and "values" is almost world wide.
The reason for the ire against the Republicans which transcends this country and is increasing all over the world is due to those ideas resulting in the US lying about a war of aggression and causing the death of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. It has resulted in us supplying cluster bombs to Israel to bomb civilians in Lebanon. Those ideas have allowed Americans to embrace torture, condone rendition and the cheapening of life all over the world. To justify invasions and proclaim ourselves heroes immune from prosecution, to hire mercenaries, to turn our heads and acquit those who tazer others even for "free speech" (Don''t taze me bro). next post
Says it all.
Grizzster
Posted by Grizzster at 02:37 AM : Sep 02, 2008"
People in difficult situations only know how that economy is. When a GOP presidential candidates says anybody making less than 5 millions are not rich says it all. According economists 0.1 % make that kind of money. That is 99.9% does not make that money. According to him our economy is doing so good. No body sees a falling real time salaries or raising health care & educations costs. He does not even know how many homes he has. Does current prez. knows how many he has. May be his mark of rich 5 billions per year.
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When this woman is trying to be elected to the position that is one heartbeat away from running our country it is the business of EVERY person in the US. If this was Jane Smith, downtown business owner it would be all her own concern. But when her thoughts and actions will effect everything that happens in this country it is no longer simply her business. Being elected to the highest or second highest office in the land means that there is NOTHING that is not important. Her thoughts, her beliefs, her actions will all reflect upon this country. We have already suffered the past eight years from someone who was incapable of successfully running our country. We cannot afford to repeat the mistake.
Life is but a joke...so why am I not laughing?
Grizzster
Posted by sara48909
If you were part of the women''s Liberation Movement, you no longer share their beliefs and values. It doesn''t matter whether Palin is a store clerk, a teacher, or a political leader. You judge her just like many men judged women 40 years ago. It is no one''s business how many children another woman has or if a woman has a child with Down''s Syndrome. If this woman has the energy and desire to aspire to her own career and life, that is her business.