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Consumer's confidence about the US economy fell unexpectedly in October as job prospects remained bleak, a private research group said, fueling speculation that an already gloomy holiday shopping forecast could worsen.
Showtime resumes from 9-10 AM, with a one hour time slot. This week on Waking Up Orwell we will be speaking to Jim Turner, a Washington attorney representing Citizens for Health, an organization suing the FDA for approving the H1N1 swine flu vacci
An expose of exploitive conditions
A Senate Democrat who's been worried about the impact of impending climate and energy legislation on manufacturing said Wednesday that he'd back the historic legislation if it contains enough investment incentives and protection for American busines
Economic hard times are not new. The fact is they happen regularly and a country has limited ways to restart their economy. The first action is to put people to work, this is accomplished by expanding the military (start a war, make the w
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Despite predictions the Great Recession is running out of steam, the House is taking up emergency legislation this week to help the millions of Americans who see no immediate end to their economic miseries.
Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio.
New unemployment data show why it will take years for the labor market
to recover from one of its fastest and deepest declines since World War
II, even if an economic recovery is around the corner.
This morning, the Labor Department said the official number climbed from 9.4% in July to 9.7% in August.
But the unofficial number jumped from 16.3% to 16.8%.
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits
unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed on Thursday,
fanning worries of an anemic recovery from the worst recession in 70
years.
While the private sector has shed 6.9 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, state and local governments have expanded their payrolls and added 110,000 jobs. "I am a little surprised at the fact that state and local government has remained as stable as it has in the nation as a whole, given the depth of the current recession,"
In a program that values timeliness above all else, decisions involving more than a million applicants have been slowed, and hundreds of thousands of needy people have waited months for checks.
And with benefit funds at dangerous lows even before the recession began, states are taking on billions in debt, increasing the pressure to raise taxes or cut aid, just as either would inflict maximum pain.
One of the dirty little secrets in politics is just how terribly labor activist groups treat their own labor. The latest example is Ralph Nader’s Fund for the Public Interest. Nader’s groups have been guilty of this for years.
A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers. Currently, employers can insist on a secret-ballot election, a higher hurdle for unions.
In a free market, demand is always a function of price: the higher the
price, the lower the demand. What may surprise most politicians is that
these rules apply equally to both prices and wages. When employers
evaluate their labor and capital needs, cost is a primary factor. When
the cost of hiring low-skilled workers moves higher, jobs are lost.
Despite this, minimum wage hikes, like the one set to take effect later
this month, are always seen as an act of governmental benevolence.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
When confronted with a clogged drain, most of us will call several
plumbers and hire the one who quotes us the lowest price. If all the
quotes are too high, most of us will grab some Drano and a wrench, and
have at it. Labor markets work the same way. Before bringing on another
worker, an employer must be convinced that the added productivity will
exceed the added cost (this includes not just wages, but all payroll
taxes and other benefits.)
The number of newly laid-off Americans signing up for unemployment
benefits last week, and those using this safety net over a longer
period, both plunged. But were
clouded by difficulties adjusting for temporary shutdowns at auto
plants.
A new forecast raised fresh doubts yesterday about how strong any
economic recovery might be, as the Federal Reserve projected that the
unemployment rate may surpass 10 percent by year's end and warned that
the economy may not return to full health for at least five years.
There is never a good time to raise the minimum wage. Just ask the people working in low-skilled jobs that are laid off as a result.
Now is a particularly bad time. Yet the federal minimum wage is scheduled to rise to $7.25 on July 24, the third step of a $2.10 increase enacted in 2007. In more than half the states, the minimum wage already exceeds the current national minimum of $6.55 an hour.
Senate Democrats outlined plans yesterday to overhaul the nation's immigration laws, including a requirement that all U.S. workers verify their identity through fingerprints or an eye scan.
A self-made entrepreneur, Kahre, 48, paid his workers in gold and silver coin, and said they could go by the coins' face value -- rather than the much higher market value of their precious metal content
“This is a truly awful report that will likely be taken as a good report because the job losses have slowed,” Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors, wrote in a note to clients. [In reality this is close to 1 in 5 unemployed.]
New applications for jobless benefits plunged to the lowest level in 14 weeks, a possible sign that the massive wave of layoffs has peaked. But the total number of people receiving jobless benefits climbed to 6.35 million, a 14th straight record.
Starbucks, Costco Wholesale Corp and Whole Foods Market are joining forces to propose alternatives to a bill that makes it easier for workers to unionize but is strongly opposed by U.S. corporations.
Slavery thrives in America. Only its form has changed.
President Barack Obama told AFL-CIO union leaders Tuesday in a videotaped address that the controversial Employee Free Choice Act will pass, signaling his full backing for legislation that makes union organizing easier.
Job offers seeking secretaries for work and intimacy can now be found on almost any Ukrainian recruitment website. Perhaps they should be called "sexretaries". Some savvy, not to mention salacious, entrepreneurs have decided that more tha
California's first-ever furloughs began Friday with more than 200,000 state workers expected to stay home without pay amid the state's fiscal crisis.
The economic downturn has forced private industry and state and local government to shed jobs, but one major employer in the country is hiring: The federal government. [Business as usual.]
"Making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone," Obama said. "That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it's not just unfair and illegal — but bad for business — to pay someone less becau
Congress gave final approval on Tuesday to a civil rights bill providing women, blacks and Hispanics with powerful new tools to challenge pay discrimination in the workplace. It is likely to be the first significant legislation signed by President Ob
