unemployment

‘Oil on the inequality fire’: How slashing jobless aid could widen the wealth gap

Leave a Comment / Income inequality, unemployment / By max cyril

Congress appears poised to dramatically reduce a federal program that has been providing an extra $600 per week for jobless workers since the spring. How Congress decides to help the tens of millions of unemployed workers during the pandemic could determine whether the stark gap between America’s rich and poor will continue to widen amid …

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Working Life Episode 190: Big Pharma’s Greed, Lies and Poisoning of America: Wages for All!

Employment won’t recover for a decade, CBO says

Leave a Comment / Employment / By max cyril

The economic outlook for the next 10 years has “deteriorated significantly” since the CBO issued its last complete set of projections in January. The nation’s unemployment rate will remain stubbornly higher for the next decade than it was before the pandemic, while economic output will be depressed for years under current tax and spending policy, …

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Minimum wage rises some places, but it’s still the COVID-19 economy

Leave a Comment / MinimumWage / By max cyril

Unemployment remains sky-high (no matter what Donald Trump tries to tell you), and four million workers have had their pay or hours cut due to the pandemic. For people who are still on the job, there’s some good news in some cities and states in the form of minimum wage increases that went into effect on July 1. In Illinois, …

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Why temporary layoffs may become permanent

Leave a Comment / layoffs / By max cyril

Forty-two percent, or 11.6 million, of all jobs lost through April 25 due to Covid-19 will become permanent, according to the University of Chicago. The White House is downplaying the bulk of coronavirus-related layoffs as temporary. But as the worsening recession forces companies to downsize or shut their doors, economists warn that many of these …

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We need strong policy now to avert a depression, this week in the war on workers

Leave a Comment / furloughs / By max cyril

We know that unemployment is sky-high, but that’s not the end of the story. The Economic Policy Institute’s Heidi Shierholz sounds a warning that, if lawmakers don’t act, we’re looking at a depression. “If the federal government provides sufficient aid during this crisis so that people’s income doesn’t drop dramatically (even if they have been unable to …

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Essential Workers Fight for Their Lives

Leave a Comment / Essential Worker / By max cyril

At a time of record unemployment, Cintya Medina feels lucky to have a job at the Barnes & Noble warehouse in Monroe, N.J.—but she does not want a job that puts her in danger. When Medina and her coworkers learned of several confirmed Covid-19 cases at the warehouse, they organized a protest on April 7 to demand …

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Unemployment claims rise by 2.4 million as states try to open for business

Leave a Comment / unemployment / By max cyril

A total of 38.6 million workers have now applied for unemployment assistance over the past nine weeks. Another 2.4 million workers filed new unemployment claims last week, DOL reported, suggesting that the economic pain from the coronavirus is continuing even as states begin to allow businesses to reopen. The coronavirus has forced nearly 39 million …

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Labor Is Pioneering a New Kind of Relief Effort in the Twin Cities

Leave a Comment / Community Service / By max cyril

Scores of workers across America have been laid off through no fault of their own, and still many of them are not eligible for federal benefits during these unprecedented times. In Minnesota’s Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation (MRLF) is organizing to provide support to those workers who can’t get the support they need from our …

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Economy Loses 20.5 Million Jobs in April; Unemployment Jumps to 14.7%