Labor & Economic News Blog


Monday, November 23, 2015

Electing to Ignore the Poorest of the Poor

Electing to Ignore the Poorest of the Poor

Selective government assistance programs have left behind the persistently poor, an issue that has not been addressed in the presidential election season.

 

Half of New Yorkers Say They Are Barely or Not Getting By, Poll Shows

Half of New Yorkers Say They Are Barely or Not Getting By, Poll Shows

The survey showed great differences in perceptions of the quality of life in the city’s five boroughs, but it found that economic anxiety was widespread.

 

Urban Charter Schools Often Succeed. Suburban Ones Often Don’t.

Urban Charter Schools Often Succeed. Suburban Ones Often Don’t.

Studies show the schools benefit poor, nonwhite students in cities, but in suburbs they do no better than public schools, and sometimes worse.

 

Rosy jobs numbers blind us to the bleak reality of the 'real economy'

Rosy jobs numbers blind us to the bleak reality of the 'real economy'


When you see news that unemployment in California has dipped to 5.8%, said Chris Hoene of the California Budget & Policy Center, it's not as rosy as it sounds. "There are more and more sectors in which people are being paid less than they were before … or they're having to work several jobs," said Hoene.

 

For Artfully ‘Worn’ Jeans, Technology Replaces Labor

For Artfully ‘Worn’ Jeans, Technology Replaces Labor 

 

Levi Strauss & Co.now uses an awful lot of design and technology to produce beat-up pants that command higher prices and margins. Technology is not only replacing ever-more-expensive labor but ever-more-busy consumers who don’t have the time to break in their jeans.

 

Robots Take on More-Elaborate Tasks

Robots Take on More-Elaborate Tasks

 In a former kitchen-cabinet workshop here, a dozen engineers are creating robots to sew garments and rugs—tasks usually relegated to low-wage workers in distant countries.

 

The Argument for a 70% Pay Raise for Women


The Argument for a 70% Pay Raise for Women

 

The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute finds a 71% “gender and inequality wage gap.

 

Mobility Is More Important Than Ever, and Here’s Who’s Missing Out

Mobility Is More Important Than Ever, and Here’s Who’s Missing Out

A new report shows that residential mobility has been largely stable in recent decades, but has declined for African-Americans, even as the link between moving and economic mobility grows stronger

 

The Nationwide Nursing Shortage

The Nationwide Nursing Shortage

Usually, in a relatively free market, labor-supply shortages resolve themselves over time. Why has this not been the case with nursing in the U.S.?

 

Working-Class Voters Hold Key to 2016

Working-Class Voters Hold Key to 2016

 

Employer Political Coercion: A Growing Threat

Employer Political Coercion: A Growing Threat

 Since Citizens United, companies can legally require workers to participate in politics—and fire them if they refuse.

 




The Missing Black Students at Elite American Universities 

 Over the past 20 years, black enrollment in colleges and universities has skyrocketed. It’s a huge success story, one that’s due to the hard work of black families, college admissions officers, and education advocates. But at top-tier universities in the United States, it’s a different story. There, the share of students who are black has actually dropped since 1994.

 

The Accounting Rules That Bankrupt Cities

The Accounting Rules That Bankrupt Cities


In November 2014, a Michigan bankruptcy judge confirmed a plan that allowed Detroit’s government to shed $7 billion in liabilities, averting a total financial collapse. One year later, however, many in Detroit are still dealing with the fallout of the massive debt reorganization.

 

Thursday, November 19, 2015

America's poorest towns

America's poorest towns

n a series of four dispatches, Chris McGreal reports from four of the poorest towns in the USA - in Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Arizona - and meets those trying to do more than survive in places so remote from the American Dream.

 

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

We Live Longer. That’s Great, Except for Social Security.

We Live Longer. That’s Great, Except for Social Security

Despite the political challenges, fixing Social Security is rather simple: Take more money in, send less money out, or both.

 

Why the LAFD is still largely white and male despite diversity efforts

Why the LAFD is still largely white and male despite diversity efforts

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's overhaul of how the city hires new firefighters - launched 16 months ago amid allegations of nepotism and bias - has so far failed to meet his aim of diversifying the LAFD and may require further reforms to succeed, according to interviews with city officials and a Times analysis of government data.

 

An LAPD employee program costs the city millions, and there isn't a reliable way to track it

An LAPD employee program costs the city millions, and there isn't a reliable way to track it

 The Los Angeles Police Department has no reliable way to track employees on extended injury leave, a program that pays officers 100% of salary, tax-free, for up to a year and costs the city tens of millions of dollars annually.

 

CalPERS may lower investment expectations, costing taxpayers billions

CalPERS may lower investment expectations, costing taxpayers billions

Experts have warned for years that the state's largest public pension plan has overestimated how much its investments will earn, leaving taxpayers to pay billions of dollars more than expected.
 

 

Friday, November 13, 2015

Obamacare Not as Egalitarian as It Appears

Obamacare Not as Egalitarian as It Appears

The health law has been a success in several respects but is also a reminder that reducing inequality is a formidable challenge.

 

World Economies Could Face Recession, O.E.C.D. Says

World Economies Could Face Recession, O.E.C.D. Says

A slowdown in international trade could be a harbinger of a new recession for the world’s leading economies, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

 

Strong Unemployment News Bolsters Case for Fed to Raise Rates

Strong Unemployment News Bolsters Case for Fed to Raise Rates

Job openings grew last week while applications for unemployment benefits stayed low, bringing the Federal Reserve’s conditions for raising the benchmark rate closer to being met.

 

Men Do More at Home, but Not as Much as They Think

Men Do More at Home, but Not as Much as They Think

Today’s husbands and fathers are pulling more of their weight with housework and child care, yet women still do more.

 

Even Famous Female Economists Get No Respect

Even Famous Female Economists Get No Respect

A look at the disparate treatment of economics power couples suggests that gender bias is alive and well.

 

California's economy is booming, so why is it No. 1 in poverty?

 

Monday, November 09, 2015

Watch a conservative try to show that the working class has done great

Watch a conservative try to show that the working class has done great

 Conservative economist Scott Winship of the Manhattan Institute confronted what he calls "the myth of the vanishing pay raise" head-on in Forbes. His foils were Bernstein and Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times, who also reported on the phenomenon of stagnation in the midst of apparent prosperity. Winship's goal is to show that the average worker has done a lot better than it seems.

 

How to build a better teacher: Groups push a 9-point plan called TeachStrong


A coalition of 40 education organizations seeks to modernize and elevate the teaching profession.

 

'Tale of two Californias': Coastal voters upbeat on economy, inland residents anxious

'Tale of two Californias': Coastal voters upbeat on economy, inland residents anxious

 Most voters in counties along the coast were hopeful about their personal finances in the next few years. But in the interior, mainly the Central Valley and Inland Empire, less than half were hopeful and most were at least somewhat anxious.

 

Federal employees make 35% less than private-sector workers

The "pay gap" reported by the Federal Salary Council is consistent with numbers for the past two years.

 

Without this little bit of help these people are giving me, I could probably die’

Without this little bit of help these people are giving me, I could probably die’

As Kentucky’s governor-elect Matt Bevin vows to dismantle the state’s health-care exchange and reverse its Medicaid expansion, residents worry that they’ll lose health benefits in a place where coal jobs have vanished and poverty remains high.

 

Friday, November 06, 2015

The U.S. labor market and the health of workers

The U.S. labor market and the health of workers

Employment growth was strong in October, with the U.S. economy adding 271,000 jobs in the month, according to the latest employment and earnings data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

An Insidious Way to Underrepresent Minorities

 

America's White Working Class Is a Dying Breed


 

Wages for top earners soared in 2014: Fly top 0.1 percent, fly

Wages for top earners soared in 2014: Fly top 0.1 percent, fly

After dipping slightly in 2013, annual earnings of the top 1.0 percent of wages earners grew 4.9 percent in 2014, and the top 0.1 percent’s earnings grew 8.9 percent, according to our analysis of the latest Social Security Administration wage data.

 

One month of good news does not make a strong economy

One month of good news does not make a strong economy

This morning’s BLS employment situation report shows the economy added 271,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 5.0 percent.

 

Borrowing While Poor

Borrowing While Poor 

Upcoming regulation won’t fix the underlying problem of payday loans: a lack of access to credit.

 

Why Childcare Workers Are So Poor, Even Though Childcare Costs So Much

Why Childcare Workers Are So Poor, Even Though Childcare Costs So Much 

On average, these women (it’s almost entirely women) are paid significantly less than the average American worker and are twice as likely to live in poverty, a new study released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found. The median hourly wage for childcare workers in the U.S. is $10.39, nearly 40 percent below the median hourly wage of workers in other occupations.

 

Can the U.S. Military Stop Its Brain Drain?


Can the U.S. Military Stop Its Brain Drain?


The Pentagon worries its rigid personnel system is driving away the officers it will need for the conflicts of the 21st century.

 

Baby boomers are what’s wrong with America’s economy


They chewed up resources, ran up the debt and escaped responsibility, a Post economic policy reporter says.

 

After Years Out of a Job, Older Workers Find a Way Back In

After Years Out of a Job, Older Workers Find a Way Back In

Hit hard by the economic downturn, older job-seekers are finding that courses — online or of

 

The October Jobs Numbers Are a Big Relief

The October Jobs Numbers Are a Big Relief

There is a big divergence between the industrial sector, which is struggling, and the broader job market.

 

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Labor Reform in Vietnam, Tied to Pacific Trade Deal, Depends on Hanoi’s Follow-Up

Vietnam Deal’s Effect Depends on Follow-Up From Hanoi

 A pact between Washington and Hanoi to strengthen labor unions in Vietnam could give workers greater bargaining power, but the impact will depend on how Vietnam carries out the agreement, longtime Vietnamese government advisers and other experts said on Thursday.

 

Communist Vietnam Says It Will Allow Unions and Strikes

Communist Vietnam Says It Will Allow Unions and Strikes

The government of Vietnam has agreed to American terms including the freedom to unionize and to strike, according to the newly released text of the T

 

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Part I: The life and slow death of a former Pennsylvania steel town


Part I: The life and slow death of a former Pennsylvania steel town

 In Sight sat down with award-winning documentary photographer Pete Marovich, who for several months in 2015, set out to document the slow collapse of a town that once stood as a titan of Pennsylvania’s steel industry: Aliquippa. Our two-part series explores Marovich’s personal connection to the town. His familial ties run deep in the former steel city that at one point was home to the largest steel mills in the world.

 

Another top Twitter employee is slamming the company’s lack of diversity on his way out the door

The departure leaves Twitter with no "managers, directors, or VP’s of color in engineering or product management," the former engineering manager said.

 

Cal State faculty approve strike in salary dispute

Cal State faculty approve strike in salary dispute

Members of the Cal State faculty union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in a pay dispute at the nation’s largest university system.

 

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