Local Professor Says Money is Tight for Many

It is Labor Day 2010 -- a time to honor American workers -- both union and non-union. But in many households on this day there is not much joy because a soft economy has meant unemployment or underemployment for many.

KYW'S Mark Abrams reports Rob Moore is director of labor studies at St. Joseph's University.

He says whether it's organized labor or the broader job force of working men and women, the overall status of labor is not good:

"The union movement has faced numerous challenges and for the first time in quite some time is down not only as a percentage of the work force but also in terms of raw numbers so that tells us something about the difficulties facing organized labor in this environment."

Moore says many long-time, older workers -- both blue-collar and white-collar -- are among the jobless.

He says it's important for the government to send the right signals to the private sector to help stimulate the economy and create jobs.

But Moore says unless the political paralysis in Washington is broken, private companies aren't going to make investments to grow their businesses and add jobs.