The Labor Day Blues

It's Labor Day. Have you hugged a union member? I'll get to later today, when a neighbor who works for the gas company and his wife the teacher come over.

Labor could use a hug, generally. It's not the force it was when my grandfather was a lineworker at an automaker. But it may be showing signs of life, according to the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations issued a National Labor Scorecard (Note: this is a PDF that requires download).

Many of the findings show challenges:

• More than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work, or underemployed, up almost 25 percent from a year ago.

• The percent of workers who are working part time but would like full-time work has increased more than 72 percent in the last eight years

• Median weekly earnings are flat in real terms since 2000.

• Pay inequality continues to increase, though wealth inequality is fairly stable.

On the plus side:

• Mass layoffs are down from five and ten years ago.

• On-the-job injuries, including fatalities, continue to decline.

• The percentage of workers represented by unions is up slightly, after decades of decline.

• The number of workers who say they are "completely satisfied" with their jobs is up over the last year, and the last decade. It's now at 48 percent.

Here's a link to the Associated Press story on the scorecard. Major papers didn't seem to give it much mind. Me, I've got to get back to work.