Labor & Economic News - Institute for Research on Labor & Employment Library: August 2008

Labor & Economic News Blog

Friday, August 29, 2008

UK: One in four British workers are not satisfied with their job

UK: One in four British workers are not satisfied with their job
Six million workers (24 per cent or one in four of the UK workforce) are not satisfied with their job - and almost one in three (30 per cent) do not feel engaged by their employer, according to a new report from the TUC released today

Hospital workers stage 24-hour strike

Hospital workers stage 24-hour strike
Unionized health care workers began a 24-hour strike Thursday morning at five California hospitals operated by the Daughters of Charity Health System, including Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach.

UC overtime up 12.4% to $135 million in '07

UC overtime up 12.4% to $135 million in '07
Three nurses in the University of California system earned more than $90,000 in overtime last year. A police officer at UC Irvine earned almost $65,000 for extra work.

Machinists' strike fever: Mercury rising inside Boeing plants

Machinists' strike fever: Mercury rising inside Boeing plants
IAM leaders have yet to make recommendation on contract offer presented Thursday.

How Obama could fix labor law.

How Obama could fix labor law.
This Labor Day marks yet another year in which the five-decade-old decline of organized labor as a representative of American employees continues almost unabated.

Offshore Outsourcing Impacts IT Workers Hardest, Survey Finds

Offshore Outsourcing Impacts IT Workers Hardest, Survey Finds
The survey, conducted by researchers at the New York University Stern School of Business and the , also backs up the long-standing view that IT employees in purely technical jobscomputer programmers and software developers who have

Latino Workers: Fastest-Growing Segment of Labor Force, Most Disadvantaged

Latino Workers: Fastest-Growing Segment of Labor Force, Most Disadvantaged
New NCLR Fact Sheet Highlights State of Hispanic Workers in the U.S.
A new publication detailing the major workplace disparities that Latinos face, Labor Day 2008:

South Africa: Jobless Rate Static for Two Years

South Africa: Jobless Rate Static for Two Years
SA's jobless rate dipped to 23,1% in the second quarter of this year, but has been stuck near that level for more than two years, a new official labour force survey revealed yesterday.

Jobless Fund in New York State Running Dry, but Benefits Will Continue

Jobless Fund in New York State Running Dry, but Benefits Will Continue
New York State’s unemployment trust fund has repeatedly run dry in the last several years — most recently a federal loan filled the gap.

Pro-union Starbucks barista gets his job back

Pro-union Starbucks barista gets his job back
NEW YORK -- A barista who said he was fired from Starbucks Corp. for helping to organize fellow workers into a union has been given his job back.

IT Employees Are Grumpy The World Over

IT Employees Are Grumpy The World Over
A global study by Princeton consultants BlessingWhite finds that fewer than one in four information technology department employees are fully engaged in their work. Of the eight staff areas studied for levels of employee engagement, the IT function ranks last across the globe. "The State of Employee Engagement 2008" study explores workplace attitudes among employees on four continents and is based on responses of more than 7,500 individuals and interviews with 40 senior human resource and line managers.

Striking LAX workers return to jobs

Striking LAX workers return to jobs
Los Angeles Times
Less than 24 hours after airport baggage handlers, security personnel and janitors walked off the job, they return following agreement on a 'cooling off' period brokered by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Congress investigates LA local of the Service Employees ...

Congress investigates LA local of the Service Employees ...
Los Angeles Times
A congressional committee has opened an inquiry into a financial scandal enveloping the Service Employees International Union's biggest California local because of six-figure payments made to firms owned by relatives of its president.

Conundrum: Job hunters, hirers both are strapped

Conundrum: Job hunters, hirers both are strapped
On a scale of 1 to 5, employers and applicants both rate it middling hard -- about a 3.5 -- when asked: How hard is to find qualified candidates? and How hard is it to find a job?

Income Rising For U.S. Middle Class

Income Rising For U.S. Middle Class
NPR audio:
Recent data from the Census Bureau says that the income of the U.S. middle class is on the rise, though it's only just getting back to the level it was before the 2000 recession. David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, talks with Steve Inskeep about flaws in how the Census collects this data, as well as the similarity in responses from the presidential campaigns.

July incomes drop by largest amount in 3 years

July incomes drop by largest amount in 3 years
AP - Personal incomes plunged in July while consumer spending slowed significantly as the impact of billions of dollars in government rebate checks began to wane.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

United to furlough 1,550 flight attendants

United to furlough 1,550 flight attendants
United Airlines said on Wednesday it will furlough 1,550 flight attendants as it reduces its flying this fall. The furloughs work out to roughly 10 percent of United's cabin workers.

Boeing machinists to issue recommendation

Boeing machinists to issue recommendation
-- Boeing Co.'s machinists union plans to issue a recommendation to its members Friday about a proposed labor contract the aerospace company calls its "best and final" offer.

Counterpunch: The Role of Trade Unions in China

Counterpunch: The Role of Trade Unions in China
The recently-concluded summer Olympics introduced China as a major player on the world stage in spectacular fashion.

Worker Assets Shrink at Fannie and Freddie

Worker Assets Shrink at Fannie and Freddie
The employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reeling as the companies lurch toward what could be a bailout.

Time for low-income affirmative action

Time for low-income affirmative action
NPR audio:
Commentator Robert Reich says Democrats have acknowledged the obstacles racial minorities face in hiring and education for a long time. Now, he says, they ought to look at the economically disadvantaged, too.

Border Patrol struggles to keep newly hired agents

Border Patrol struggles to keep newly hired agents
AP - Law enforcement officers wanted: must work graveyard shifts alone in remote towns along the Mexican border, put in long hours and perform well in triple-digit temperatures.

U.S. Jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week

Jobless claims fall for 3rd straight week
AP - The number of people signing up for jobless benefits declined last week, the third straight drop from a six-year high reached earlier this month, the government said Thursday.

German jobless rate falls further, but trend 'nearing end'

German jobless rate falls further, but trend 'nearing end'
AFP - German unemployment fell further in August, but the biggest European economy is flirting with recession and its job market will probably feel the effects later this year, analysts said Thursday.

Saratoga New York Racetrack Workers Aren’t Paid Minimum Wage, State Agency Finds

Racetrack Workers Aren’t Paid Minimum Wage, State Agency Finds
A labor investigation says that 80 percent of the 110 backstretch workers at Saratoga Race Course who were interviewed were not paid minimum wage or time and a half for overtime.

In Minnesota, Two Dreams

In Minnesota, Two Dreams
NPR audio:
On the anniversary of Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech, we meet with two families — each striving for the American dream. Though they live just 10 miles apart, they face very different circumstances. One is well off, the other poor; one is black, one white. But they both value education and want a better life for their children.

United, pilots trade charges

United, pilots trade charges
No one disputes that relations between United Airlines and its pilots have gone from bad to worse over the past two years.

Steelworkers OK strike on ArcelorMittal

Steelworkers OK strike on ArcelorMittal
Members of the United Steelworkers union have voted to give the union authority to launch a nationwide strike against ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, if ongoing contract negotiations fail.

New Work Trends Survey of U.S. Workers Reveals Deep-Seated Concern About their Futures

New Work Trends Survey of U.S. Workers Reveals Deep-Seated Concern About their Futures
As Americans prepare to celebrate the Labor Day weekend, a new Heldrich Center Work Trends survey of 1,000 Americans finds them in a state of anxiety – very concerned about jobs and feeling bleak about their economic future.

Middle class: We're working harder, being paid less and worried about the future

Middle class: We're working harder, being paid less and worried about the future
Since the 2001 recession, the American work force has contributed to a robust 20 percent growth in productivity, as measured by the gross national product. Yet seven years into this economic cycle, most middle-class American households have less inflation-adjusted income than they had when it started.

Labor: United and Divided

Labor: United and Divided
American Prospect
A fractured labor movement is throwing everything into its campaign for Barack Obama.

Nigeria: Youth Unemployment, Poverty - a Time Bomb for Country

Nigeria: Youth Unemployment, Poverty - a Time Bomb for Country
It is an inescapable fact that more than 70% of the Nigerian populace is currently unemployed or under employed. Those who are employed are earning starvation wages that cannot feed them, let alone meet their various needs. More alarming is the fact that the burden of this huge unemployment is borne by youths and other energetic adults.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

State of Working America 2008/2009

State of Working America 2008/2009
Released in time for Labor Day, the advanced edition of EPI's authoritative volume The State of Working America 2008/2009 is now available. The 11th edition shows that the business cycle that started in 2001 will be one for the record books. For the first time on record, middle-class families are at the end of a recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the previous recession. Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible and went to the top-most sliver.

EU's ageing trend to rise sharply

EU's ageing trend to rise sharply
The EU predicts a big rise in pensioners, with only two working-age people for every person aged 65 or more by 2060.

World poverty 'more widespread'

World poverty 'more widespread'
The World Bank says there are more poor people in the world than previously thought, with one in four in poverty.

Mexico: Striking on the Shoulders of Giants: Injustice persists at copper mine that sparked Mexican Revolution

Mexico: Striking on the Shoulders of Giants: Injustice persists at copper mine that sparked Mexican Revolution
Cananea is home to Mexico’s largest copper mine. And Verdugo, 43, is the burly, charismatic, de facto leader of the local union — Section 65 of the Miners and Metallurgical Workers Union of Mexico (SNTMMSR).

Women Lawmakers Take Up Wage Discrimination at Convention

Women Lawmakers Take Up Wage Discrimination at Convention
Denver -- As Democrats take up the economy at the national convention, key women legislators are gearing up to pass landmark legislation to crack down on wage discrimination. 'While everyone is feeling a faltering economy, women feel it with greater

Machinists reject new benefits calculator

Machinists reject new benefits calculator
As contract talks continue, Boeing offered an online calculator meant to help employees understand the benefits of its offer, but Machinists dismissed the tool.

Washington State work force plan emphasizes education

Washington State work force plan emphasizes education
Washington has drafted an ambitious plan to bolster the state's work force, calling for every high school student's graduation and a publicly funded 13th year for job training or education after secondary school.

Machinists unimpressed by new Boeing offer

Machinists unimpressed by new Boeing offer
Boeing presented to the Machinists union Tuesday an improved contract proposal that offers more money and removes two of three issues that union officials had previously labeled "deal-breakers," but union official Mark Blondin said "the wage package falls well below expectations."

Incomes fall in Michigan, number in poverty rises

Incomes fall in Michigan, number in poverty rises
AP - Government data painted a bleak economic picture for Michigan, where the auto industry's downward plunge has rippled across the state.

Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks

Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks
AP - Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m.

Not the same as it ever was

Not the same as it ever was
EPI
New data allows for a clear comparison of how median income for working-age families in the 2000s stacks up to the last economic cycle. Get the facts at a glance in this week's Snapshot.

Census: Californians' median income falls

Census: Californians' median income falls
American incomes rose modestly between 2006 and 2007, but in California, the typical household lost ground slightly, according to census data released Tuesday, one of several economic indicators that may be a cause for worry as the economy takes another dip, some analysts say.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

'Marketplace' Report: Numbers To Play With

'Marketplace' Report: Numbers To Play With
NPR audio:
The poverty rate is holding steady and the number of uninsured has dropped, according to the Census Bureau's annual snapshot of American economic well-being. The data does not take into account the consequences of the economic downturn that began late last year, however.

China laborers don't always fit blueprint

China laborers don't always fit blueprint
NPR audio:
Big budgets and cheap labor are fueling rapid development in many Chinese cities. But with all the opportunity for architecture and construction firms comes a bit of risk -- the workforce. Lisa Chow reports.

New poverty, income, and health coverage analysis

New poverty, income, and health coverage analysis
Economic Policy Institute
The U.S. Census Bureau's annual release of poverty, income, and health coverage held some good news for Americans, but drilling down below the surface reveals a continuing erosion of the economy for working people. Although median household income increased slightly and the poverty rate was essentially unchanged from 2006 to 2007, incomes for working families (as opposed to retirees) actually dropped. The drop was especially significant when compared to median income in 2000, which is a better comparison because--like 2007--it was the final year of a cycle of economic growth. Given current conditions, income levels will surely decline further in 2008. The biggest surprise of the release came in the area of health care coverage. The number of uninsured dropped slightly in 2007, but the decline was due to an increase in government-sponsored coverage for children. Meanwhile, the rate of employer-based insurance coverage continued its seven-year decline.

Examining the New 2007 Census Poverty, Income, and Health Data

Examining the New 2007 Census Poverty, Income, and Health Data
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities
Despite modest improvements in overall median income and health insurance coverage, the new Census data are disquieting. Though 2007 was the sixth (and likely the final) year of an economic expansion, 4.4 million more Americans were poor, the median income of non-elderly households was $1,100 lower, and nearly 6 million more Americans were uninsured than in 2001 — even though the economy was in recession that year.

New Income and Poverty Figures Spoil the Pity Party

New Income and Poverty Figures Spoil the Pity Party
Cato Institute
The Census Bureau’s release this morning of the latest income, poverty and health insurance numbers did not follow the script of those who want to paint a picture of a nation in crisis.
Opponents of free trade, immigration, and limited government constantly tell us that the middle class is shrinking, the poor are getting poorer and more numerous, and the number of Americans without health insurance is climbing inexorably. Their solution is always to restrict trade and immigration and launch expensive new programs to alleviate the obvious misery.

The Census Projects Minority Surge

The Census Projects Minority Surge
Brookings Institute
New census projections target the U.S. population to reach “minority majority” status by the year 2042—the year when the white population dips to below half of the total. While this may seem a long way off, William Frey writes that the impending minority surge will impact the youth vote, workforce diversity and cradle-to-grave policies sooner than many anticipate.

Group says employment at staffing companies down

Group says employment at staffing companies down
Employment in the temporary and contract staffing industry fell 6.5 percent between April and June compared with the same time a

Steel talks stall

Steel talks stall
Although the labor agreement between the United Steel Workers and ArcelorMittal expires Monday, talks on a new contract aren't going well,

Zimbabwe: Doctors' strike adds to country's pain

Zimbabwe: Doctors' strike adds to country's pain
Mehluli, 35, is just one of thousands of Zimbabweans bearing the brunt of a strike by government doctors, who downed tools last week to protest against

Monday, August 25, 2008

Filght attendants union to protest at Northwest meeting

Filght attendants union to protest at Northwest meeting
A flight attendants union plans to rally outside Northwest Airline's annual shareholders meeting, saying management hasn't discussed merger details with union leaders. Northwest flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, but that union lost an election to unionize Delta Air Lines flight attendants.

The Truth About Social Security

The Truth About Social Security
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
In Op-Eds & Columns - Dean Baker The Guardian Unlimited

Machinists, Hawker Beechcraft reach tentative agreement: Kansas City Area

Machinists, Hawker Beechcraft reach tentative agreement
The striking Machinists union and Hawker Beechcraft Corp. have reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract _ one the union is saying contains improvements over the previous offer.

Kansas City Star offers buyouts to most employees

Star offers buyouts to most employees
InThe Kansas City Star today said it will offer more buyouts to the newspaper's employees.

Average Income Rises Above Level in 2000

Average Income Rises Above Level in 2000
Americans enjoyed higher average income in 2006 for the first time since 2000, when the last economic expansion ended, the latest tax data show.

Strike by airport baggage staff

Strike by airport baggage staff
Security workers who scan luggage at Stansted Airport have begun a one-day strike in a dispute over pay. The 33 members of the GMB Union are seeking a pay

Friday, August 22, 2008

Boeing offers Machinists 3 "deal-breakers"

Boeing offers Machinists 3 "deal-breakers"
One small concession and three "deal breakers." That's the Machinists union's tally after it reviewed Boeing's initial offer for a new contract Friday.

Boeing, union talks slow as strike looms

Boeing, union talks slow as strike looms
Boeing Co and its largest workers' union are making slow progress in the last leg of key contract negotiations, with no sign of a breakthrough as the end of the current contract draws near.

AirTran lays off 169 pilots

AirTran lays off 169 pilots
AirTran Airways said it notified 169 pilots this week that they will be furloughed as the airline shrinks its flight schedule and cuts costs. [

Extra pounds mean insurance fees for Ala. workers

Extra pounds mean insurance fees for Ala. workers
Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Who's Your Economic Daddy?

Who's Your Economic Daddy?
ITIF
For most people, debating economic doctrines is a pastime best left to the Ph.D. economists working in government, think tanks and universities. Yet economic doctrines are at the heart of the economic policies being debated right now in the presidential campaign, in the halls of Congress, and in the current administration. Virtually all policy makers involved in economic policy, including our two major Presidential candidates, subscribe to a particular economic doctrine, even if they may not be aware of which “camp” they are in.

The California Consensus: Can Private Aid End Global Poverty?

The California Consensus: Can Private Aid End Global Poverty?
The rise of private aid donors—foundations, NGOs, corporations, and individuals—is changing the landscape of development assistance. As private aid has doubled within the past decade, the developing world welcomes these new players, and Raj Desai and Homi Kharas argue that they have the potential to be more effective in ending global poverty than the traditional bilateral and multilateral aid agencies.

New Poverty Numbers

New Poverty Numbers
Twelve years after the landmark welfare reform law helped trigger dramatic declines in poverty, Brookings experts are closely watching the numbers. On August 26 Brookings holds a briefing to discuss new Census data on poverty and family income for 2007 and their implications for families and children. The rate had declined slightly in both 2005 and 2006. Given the weak economy, analysts are watching to see whether the rates continued to decline in 2007.

China: Have we reached crucial turning point in the history of China’s trade union movement?

China: Have we reached crucial turning point in the history of China’s trade union movement?
We may have reached a crucial turning point in the history of China’s trade union movement. For the first time since 1949, trade union officials are openly stating that the union should represent the workers and no one else, while new legislation in Shenzhen places collective bargaining – previously a no-go area – at the core of the union’s work.

What the upcoming Census report will (probably) tell us

What the upcoming Census report will (probably) tell us
EPI puts the upcoming Census Bureau report into proper context in this special preview. We'll provide a full analysis in two new reports, when the new data is officially released on Aug. 26.

2005-07 job losses about the same as in previous three-year study

2005-07 job losses about the same as in previous three-year study
About 8.3 million U.S. workers lost their jobs from January 2005 through December 2007 because of business closures or moves, insufficient work, or elimination of shifts or positions.

Metro Atlanta jobless rate hits 16-year high

Metro Atlanta jobless rate hits 16-year high
The jobless rate in metro Atlanta jumped last month to 6.3 percent, its highest level in 16 years. A year ago, the metro Atlanta rate was 4.6 percent.

Quarter Of U.S. Workers Get No Paid Vacation

Quarter Of U.S. Workers Get No Paid Vacation
NPR audio:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that one-quarter of workers in the United States get no paid vacation at all. And non-union workers get more time off than union workers during their first years on the job, though the union workers start getting extra vacation after 10 or 20 years on the job.

Jobless claims fall for second straight week

Jobless claims fall for second straight week
The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, the second straight drop from a six-year high, according to government data released Thursday.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Labor Dept: Fewer workers killed on job in 2007

Labor Dept: Fewer workers killed on job in 2007 AP - Wed Aug 20, 12:07 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The number of workers killed on the job annually dropped to a historic low in 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Wednesday.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Toward Shared Prosperity

Toward Shared Prosperity
View "Toward Shared Prosperity," a video introduction to EPI's Agenda for Shared Prosperity.

Friday, August 15, 2008

GAO-08-981R, Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase Effectiveness of DOD's Programs to Promote Positive Working Relationships between Res

GAO-08-981R, Military Personnel: Improvements Needed to Increase Effectiveness of DOD's Programs to Promote Positive Working Relationships between Reservists and Their Employers, August 15, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Energy Boom In Wyo. Increases Wages, Inflation

Energy Boom In Wyo. Increases Wages, Inflation
NPR audio:
Wyoming's booming natural gas industry has increased wages around the state, but inflation has risen as well. The hot natural gas trade has also had a cooling effect on the service industry.

Jobless claims fall less than expected

Jobless claims fall less than expected
AP - The job market showed continued strains on Thursday when government data said the number of newly laid-off workers filing applications for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week.

Living Costs Rising Fast, and Wages Are Trailing

Living Costs Rising Fast, and Wages Are Trailing
The cost of living, led by the soaring cost of gasoline and food, is rising at the fastest rate since the recession of the early 1990s, the government said on Thursday, handing a de facto pay cut to the American worker.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Social Security: Here today, still here tomorrow

Social Security: Here today, still here tomorrow
Will Social Security be around when I retire? Yes, and it will be paying even more than now, as explained in EPI?s latest Issue Brief.

State of Working America sneak preview

State of Working America sneak preview
On Labor Day, EPI will release its 11th edition in the flagship series The State of Working America. The 2008/2009 edition will cover all of the material you have come to expect from this pre-eminent examination of the U.S. labor market. In the spirit of the Olympic competition currently underway in Beijing, EPI is offering a sneak preview of the book by releasing the chapter comparing the United States' economic performance to that of 19 other industrialized countries. Check out the book's site to download a PDF of the international chapter and peruse links to other content from this series.

Social Security Reform

Social Security Reform
Important to the elderly since President Roosevelt made it law on August 14, 1935, Social Security—and the debate over how to strengthen it—is no less important on its 73rd birthday. Brookings experts have always offered policy prescriptions for this social insurance program and do so today, from a wide range of views. Alice Rivlin suggests that Congress and the next president take immediate action in January, and she and her colleagues offer a number of policy recommendations.

Companies Implement Part-Time Layoffs

Companies Implement Part-Time Layoffs
NPR audio:
A growing number of companies are laying people off for part of the workweek to weather the economic slowdown. Eighteen states have programs whereby employees collect unemployment for the hours that they don't work at their full-time jobs.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Low-Income Families and Communities

Low-Income Families and Communities
In a new report, Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone explain that following a dramatic decline in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade. Alan Berube says that help for high working-poverty communities will come from stronger national and regional economic growth—plus targeted efforts to protect neighborhoods of choice and connection.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Verizon And 2 Unions Reach Pact For 3 Years

Verizon And 2 Unions Reach Pact For 3 Years
A tentative three-year contract includes raises totaling nearly 11 percent, and the company would continue to pay 100 percent of current workers’ and retirees’ health premiums.

Preoccupations: When Experts Retire, How to Replace Them?

Preoccupations: When Experts Retire, How to Replace Them?
One executive discusses the acute challenge of replacing employees who are set to retire in the next few years.

Union Workers Authorize Strike at Qwest

Union Workers Authorize Strike at Qwest
The workers’ contract expires next Sunday, a little more than a week before the Democratic National Convention, at which Qwest is providing communication services.

Delta and Northwest Pilots Ratify Joint Pact

Delta and Northwest Pilots Ratify Joint Pact
The ratification of a collective bargaining agreement has been an element of Delta’s efforts to achieve a smooth integration when it acquires Northwest later this year.

Storm Clouds Ahead for 401(k) Plans?

Storm Clouds Ahead for 401(k) Plans?
Designed to promote retirement saving, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 clarified auto-enrollment, auto-contribution, and auto-investment rules in employer 401(k) plans. Early evidence suggests that the legislation boosted these plan features and increased employee participation in 401(k) plans. It is too soon to gauge the act's ultimate success, however, because it hinges on the number of new participants that will eventually amass substantial account balances. Adding to the uncertainty, the recent LaRue Supreme Court decision, which highlights the legal liability that employers face as plan fiduciaries, could undermine future retirement security by making some employers reluctant to sponsor plans.

Businesses in Massachusetts rip healthcare proposal

Businesses in Massachusetts rip healthcare proposal
Businesses are balking at a proposed state regulation that, a leading retail group says, will force small companies to spend thousand of dollars more in health insurance for their workers, and could lead many employers to drop coverage altogether.

Friday, August 08, 2008

A Plan to Revive the American Economy

A Plan to Revive the American Economy
With grim economic news coming from many directions, it's easy to get discouraged about our ability to repair the damage of years of failed economic policies. And yet, there are pragmatic solutions to our biggest challenges, including ways to restore health care and retirement security, to create family-supporting jobs, and to reestablish a leadership role in the global economy. Collaborating with some of the nation's top progressive thinkers, EPI researchers have been exploring and refining solutions for the better part of two years. Now, just in time for national debates on economic direction, EPI has compiled the best of these proposals into a small, easy-to-read Policy Handbook called ''A Plan to Revive the American Economy.''

Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s

Reversal of Fortune: A New Look at Concentrated Poverty in the 2000s
After dramatic declines in concentrated poverty in the 1990s, the number of low-income workers and families living in high-working-poverty neighborhoods rose by a striking 41% in the first half of this decade, according to a new report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. The report's authors draw on data from the IRS to measure the change in rates of “concentrated working poverty” nationally and in many of the largest metropolitan areas across the country.

Pilots complain airlines restrict fuel to cut cost

Pilots complain airlines restrict fuel to cut cost
Pilots are complaining that their airline bosses, desperate to cut costs, are forcing them to fly uncomfortably low on fuel.

Productivity growth slowed in spring

Productivity growth slowed in spring
The efficiency of America's workers grew at a slightly slower pace in the spring as companies sought to produce more with leaner work forces.

Unions set Sunday deadline for Verizon talks

Unions set Sunday deadline for Verizon talks
The phone company's contract with the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers expired last weekend. Their members have been working under the old contract while negotiations have continued, but the unions are stepping up the pressure by setting a deadline for midnight Sunday, just before the workweek starts.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Jobless claims hit highest point since March 2002

Jobless claims hit highest point since March 2002
AP - The nation's jobs market sent a fresh cry of distress as the number of newly laid off people unexpectedly hit the highest level in more than six years, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.

Chrysler Considers Outsourcing Work To Nissan

Chrysler Considers Outsourcing Work To Nissan
NPR audio:
As the third-largest U.S. automaker struggles to survive, it's looking for new ways to do business. Increasingly, Chrysler is turning to outsourcing, at least for its passenger cars. The Wall Street Journal reports Thursday that Chrysler is talking to Nissan about a deal in which the Japanese carmaker would manufacture cars, and Chrysler would sell them under its own brand.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Dismal employment trends characterize 2000's business cycle

Dismal employment trends characterize 2000's business cycle
Read this week's Economic Snapshot to see how the 2000s business cycle failed to perform on the employment front.

Oakland port to eliminate 100 jobs

Oakland port to eliminate 100 jobs
The Port of Oakland is cutting 100 jobs, representing about 15 percent of all positions, in its biggest reduction in force in recent...

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Kosher meats firm cited for child labor

Kosher meats firm cited for child labor
Officials from the state's Labor Commissioner's Office said their investigation, which spanned several months, uncovered 57 cases of child labor law violations at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, where nearly 400 workers were arrested this spring in the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Job market recession persists

Job market recession persists
For analysis of today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, read EPI's Jobs Picture.

Wal-Mart denies that it told employees how to vote

Wal-Mart denies that it told employees how to vote
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, denied a report Friday that it had pressured employees to vote against Democrats in November because of worries that a bill the party supports would make it easier for workers to unionize.

Manufacturing activity flat in July

Manufacturing activity flat in July
Reuters - U.S. factory activity held up to stand unchanged in July from June, managing to defy forecasts of a contraction and showing inflation pressures moderating, according to a report released on Friday.

Jobless rate highest in 4 years

Jobless rate highest in 4 years
Reuters - The U.S. unemployment rate hit its highest level in four years during July as employers cut jobs for a seventh straight month, though less severely than predicted, a Labor Department report showed on Friday.