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New from Brookings
A Weakening Job Market
Payroll employment gains vanished in August. According to minitial estimates just published by the BLS, small employment gains in the private sector were exactly offset by small employment losses in government. In addition, revisions in employment totals for June and July eliminated more than a third of the previously estimated job gains in those months. Thus, not only was payroll growth slower than it has been in any month since September 2010, revisions in previous months’ job totals suggest that employment growth so far this year has been slower than we thought.
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How to Invest in U.S. Employment
With the U.S. economy struggling and unemployment above 9 percent, President Barack Obama will outline new measures to create jobs and jumpstart the economy in a speech to Congress on September 8. Labor economist Gary Burtless says investment from both the private and public sectors is vital to generating employment. One way that the government can develop employment remedies, Burtless says, is by increasing its budget for infrastructure investments, either through direct employment of workers, or, indirectly, by hiring private-sector companies with expanded public budgets.
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New from the Center on Law and Social Policy
High Unemployment Doesn't Have to be the New Normal
This Labor Day is different. The old truths about a dynamic labor market in which the young and unemployed could quickly find jobs have given way to a grim new reality - weak job growth and high levels of prolonged unemployment.
This shift threatens to transform far too many of America's once productive workers into permanently unemployed or unemployable people. Nearly one-third of the nation's 14 million unemployed workers have been jobless for a year or more, and an additional 8.4 million are working part-time because their hours have been reduced or they simply can't find full-time jobs. Equally troublesome is that only 58 percent of those over age 16 are working, the lowest percent since 1983. The employment situation is worse for young people, older workers, black and Hispanic workers and those with no more than a high school education.
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In Our View: America's Backbone
Labor Day has evolved over the years. What began as an ode to unionized workers, to those who were banding together to fight unacceptable working conditions, has been altered over the past century.Now the holiday is often regarded as simply another day off, a chance for a final fling of summer, an opportunity for a backyard barbecue. Yet it remains important to assess the meaning of the occasion.
Established as a federal holiday in 1894, Labor Day celebrated a movement that eventually proved crucial to the development of the world's most powerful economy and the rise of America's middle class.Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that union membership stands at 11.9 percent of the workforce. Not counting government employees, the rate of union membership is 6.9 percent.
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Who's Working This Labor Day?
It's alarming enough that unemployment has hovered around 9 percent or more since April 2009, but equally troubling is that workers are remaining unemployed longer and many are dropping out of the labor force altogether. This trend threatens to turn far too many of America's once productive workers into permanently unemployed and unemployable people, the Center for Law and Social Policy said today.
A new CLASP fact sheet highlights data showing a decline in workforce participation and the difficulty many long-term unemployed face in plugging back into the labor market. Among other things, it reveals there are far more job seekers than jobs, people are out of work for longer periods of time, and a smaller percent of the population is working.
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Census: Area Government Workers Average More in Pay
For more than 125 years, Americans have celebrated Labor Day. Starting in 1882, more than 10,000 workers marched down the streets of New York City in a parade organized by Peter J. McGuire, a Carpenters and Joiners Union secretary. Eleven years later, more than half the states were observing Labor Day and by 1884, Congress passed a bill establishing it as a federal holiday. President Grover Cleveland signed the bill soon after and designated the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
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New from the Government Accountability Office
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Update on Families Served and Work Participation
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, created in 1996, is one of the key federal funding streams provided to states to assist low-income families. A critical aspect of TANF has been its focus on employment and self-sufficiency, and the primary means to measure state efforts in this area has been TANF's work participation requirements. When the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) reauthorized TANF, it also made changes that were generally expected to strengthen these work requirements.
Given the impending extension or reauthorization of TANF, this testimony primarily draws on previous GAO work to focus on (1) how the welfare caseload and related spending have changed since TANF was created and (2) how states have met work participation rates since DRA. To address these issues, in work conducted from August 2009 to May 2010, GAO analyzed state data reported to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); surveyed state TANF administrators in 50 states and the District of Columbia; conducted site visits to Florida, Ohio, and Oregon, selected to provide geographic diversity and variation in TANF program characteristics; and reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and research.
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New from National Youth Employment Coalition
Help Build the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Agenda
Now in its fifth year, the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference will hold four regional conferences throughout the country in 2012. These Regional Conferences— in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Detroit — provide a unique opportunity to meet like-minded people and build coalitions that will move us forward to a cleaner, greener and more prosperous economy.
The 2012 Good Jobs, Green Jobs Regional Conferences will each reflect the character and uniqueness of their locations and will bring together thousands of labor, environmental, business, elected and community leaders working in their area and around the country to promote, preserve, and build coalitions that create good jobs and preserve our economic and environmental future. The Regional Conferences provide a renewed focus on networking opportunities and showcase the best and most innovative ideas and strategies in the public, private and non-profit sectors.
As the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference prepares for the 2012 Regional Conferences, they are asking for your proposals for workshops and panels. Each of the 2012 Good Jobs, Green Jobs Regional Conferences will reflect the character, challenges and opportunities unique to each region and bring the conversation about how to build a green economy to local communities. These conferences will be convened by a diverse coalition of emerging small businesses, government agencies, green industry trade associations, labor unions, environmental organizations, and educational institutions. The deadline to have your proposal considered is September 30, 2011.
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