Women, teachers and health care employees all suffered from the slow rebound last month. The labor market recovery that President Joe Biden has promised slowed again in September, with a weaker-than-expected 194,000 new jobs created. That suggests school reopenings and the end of generous federal jobless benefits haven’t brought enough Americans back into the labor …
A new proposal for a negative income tax could eliminate poverty in the United States. In these heady days of progressive proposals for massive increases in the federal budget, such as the Democrats’ recently announced $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package, a timely paper has reopened an old debate with a new proposal for a guaranteed national income, in the form of …
An Old Idea for a Guaranteed Income Is Back in Style Read More »
The pandemic has inspired city dwellers and investors to buy land in rural areas. That’s driving up farmland prices and pushing some beginning farmers out of the market. Abel Dowden, age 20, grew up on his family’s beef farm in the Missouri Ozarks. He just got married and is ready to start his own farm. Dowden …
The evidence is in: Sending out direct cash payments has been a full-blown success—and we can’t afford to stop. It’s become almost a cliché in the politics of Washington, D.C.: Every time someone proposes expanding a social program or creating a new one, scores of politicians, lobbyists and so-called economic ?“experts” will pop up to tell you that it …
Don’t Just Send People Money During a Pandemic—Do It All the Time Read More »
After a disappointing April jobs report, May looked significantly better with 559,000 new jobs added to the economy, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s still a little short of the 650,000 jobs analysts predicted, but unemployment ticked down from 6.1% to 5.8%, the lowest since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020. “America is on the …
U.S. added 559,000 jobs in May and unemployment dropped to 5.8% Read More »
Homelessness in the U.S., which was already on the rise prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased in 2020, exacerbated by the economic realities of the pandemic. Austin, Texas, is no exception, with an estimated 11 percent increase in homeless people counted in the city and Travis County between 2019 and 2020, according to the point-in-time (PIT) count reported in the …
One City’s Pioneering Project to Push Police Funding Into Housing the Homeless Read More »
Brad Greve knew it was just a matter of time before the computer chip shortage disrupting the auto industry had a ripple effect on aluminum manufacturing in Iowa. Greve and his colleagues at Arconic Davenport Works—members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 105—supply the Ford F-150 pickup and other vehicles. Automakers forced to cut production because of the semiconductor …
Rebuilding U.S. Manufacturing Is the Only Path to an Economic Renaissance Read More »
Black Americans, who were among the hardest hit by coronavirus layoffs, are now recovering at the slowest rate, a one-two punch that threatens to worsen the United States’ already stark wealth and income disparities long after the pandemic recedes. While Hispanic workers initially saw the sharpest uptick in unemployment when business shutdowns began last spring, …
Black workers, hammered by pandemic, now being left behind in recovery Read More »
In this episode, we talk to Rev. Lindsey Joyce of the United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago and the Institute for Christian Socialism. We discuss Pastor Joyce’s life and path to being a full-time pastor and the community she serves. We also discuss the work of ministry: What is it like to be a worker who works in …
Capitalism’s “conservative” defenders yet again oppose raising the minimum wage. They fought raising it in the past much as they tried to prevent the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) that first mandated a U.S. minimum wage. The major argument opponents have used is this: setting or raising a minimum wage threatens small employers. They may …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
