President Obama at a Labor Day event in Detroit, Michigan
During this Labor Day week, we've heard from another Republican politician
blaming unemployed people for unemployment. We've seen that the
anti-union divide and conquer is having an effect, that
new college graduates face long-lasting economic damage and that
downward mobility is alive and well. But we also heard our president honor workers and their right to collective bargaining, and being to push for a jobs plan that came as a pleasant surprise to many people who have been pressuring him from the left.
In the coming week, we will get one of the clearest looks of the year at where the economy stands for working people. EPI's new Working Economics blog lets us know what to look for:
On Tuesday morning, Sept. 13, the U.S. Census Bureau will release the newest data on poverty, health insurance, and annual income for 2010. This is the one data release in the year that gives us the most-quoted information on what happened to family income, poverty, and health insurance coverage over the preceding year. It’s a great window into why debates over the state of the economy and labor market have real, human consequences.
Unfortunately, we expect the bad news to continue. Why? Namely because of two factors. First, the unemployment rate increased from 9.3% in 2009 to 9.6% in 2010. Second, long-term unemployment, or the percent unemployed 27 weeks or more, grew from 31.2% in 2009 to 43.3% in 2010.
Other news
- If you've ever asked why union members don't take to the streets in militant action more often these days, here's a story for you. Longshore workers in Washington state have engaged in sustained protests of a company taking taxpayer subsidies and leasing public land and refusing to use union labor. The workers have blocked trains from coming in, dumped grain, and been arrested in large numbers.
- Matthew Di Carlo at Shanker Blog explains how despite talk of performance measures, in fact Ohio's new standards for charter school expansion will be driven by income, not performance.
- Is Obama's call to modernize schools really necessary? (Spoiler: Yes)
- A reproduction of the Maine labor history mural that Gov. Paul LePage had removed from the Maine Department of Labor last winter is being shown in Rockville, Maryland.
- While he was busy making headlines this week for his Labor Day speech, it's much less widely known that Teamsters President Jim Hoffa is up for reelection and he does have a challenger. Minnesota Public Radio interviews Sandy Pope, the first woman to run to be head of the Teamsters.
- A nifty set of tools for building relationships between unions and other parts of the progressive movement.