The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) this week published three reports showing the extent to which America's workers are losing ground this Labor Day: People are dropping out of the workforce because there are no jobs and those workers who have jobs are earning less.
First, there are not nearly enough new jobs. Nearly 15 million workers are unemployed, nearly a quarter of whom have been seeking work for more than a year. Even though unemployment rose slightly to 9.6 percent last month, it's 0.5 percent less than it was last October. But that's not because the economy has been generating that many jobs. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz found that the percentage of people who were actually employed held steady even as the population increased. Translation: The improvement in the unemployment rate has been almost entirely due to people dropping out of (or not entering) the labor force because of the lack of jobs. Check out Shierholz's report, "Employment Growth Continues Subpar Performance," here.
America's workers have a lot at stake in the 2010 elections: The entire House of Representatives and 37 Senate seats are up for election--and along with the hundreds of state and local races, the outcomes will determine how well all of us can shape a working families' agenda. Stop by the AFL-CIO Labor 2010 website and:
Social Security is strong for the long term and is not contributing to the deficit. As part of the coalition, Strengthen Social Security…Don’t Cut It, the AFL-CIO is opposing any plans for benefit cuts and pressing candidates to pledge to fight moves raising the retirement age.
