Working Life

This is the truth about the economy–not the truth embodied in the "green shoots" that various people are trying to look for. The truth of the real lives of real people: two jobs just doesn’t make enough work to survive. Actually, it’s plenty of work–way more work–than a single individual should have to do. But, […]

Read the full story

   The unemployment numbers are out–and we have the worst picture for jobs in quite a long time: For Americans who wake up each morning thinking about their job hunt, Friday’s unemployment report offered little reassurance that their search would soon pay off, even as the broader economy showed signs of strengthening. The United States […]

Read the full story

   If the criteria used for deciding whether the recession-depression is over is focused on bonuses for banks and Wall Street executives, then, hallelujah, the good times are rolling. But, if the criteria is people getting jobs, um, well, that isn’t happening (courtesy of The Wall Street Journal): Companies across the economy are holding off […]

Read the full story

   I will continue to post and argue, until proven otherwise, that there is no recovery–that it is a myth. I am an optimist by nature but I also believe in dealing with actual reality (I know, that is so 1960s). Here is why I love Paul Krugman: But there’s an even bigger problem: while […]

Read the full story

I’m reading the reports of the awful job reports that came out today. I’ve been arguing for some time that the search of "green shoots" in the economy is a mirage and an experiment that covers up how bad the economy is for real people. But, this made me stop in my tracks.   From […]

Read the full story

   i’ve been asked to debate that question today on CNBC–I will post the video later. But, why do we even debate this anymore? It’s entirely about ideology, not economic facts. Union workers make almost 25 percent more than non-union workers–the difference was actually wider not too long ago but I suspect that deep concessions […]

Read the full story

   I’ve been banging this drum for many weeks–we cannot take seriously the talk about "recovery" when the vast crisis of unemployment and under-employment is not being dealt with. Bob Herbert picks up this theme today: The official jobless rate is now more than twice as high — 9.4 percent — and even more wildly […]

Read the full story

   The debate I took part in yesterday–well, it’s hard to call it a debate when your opponent is not operating with a full deck of cards…meaning facts–on CNBC really illustrates, in the most starkest terms, the two visions of America. One vision sees unionized jobs, like those that many people have had in the […]

Read the full story

  It’s often said we live in a global economy. Yet, we tend to spend most of our time thinking only about how the economic financial crisis has sent a sea of Americans to the jobless line. The global picture, however, is even more catastrophic: 50 million additional people may find themselves jobless by the […]

Read the full story

   If anyone–like obstructionist Republicans–had any doubt that we have no time to waste on the stimulus, we are peering over the edge of the abyss: Furloughs, wage reductions, hiring freezes and shorter hours simply did not do enough. A year into this recession, companies across the board are resorting to mass job cuts. Home […]

Read the full story