Working Life

   Happy Days are here again, folks–uh, for the corporate bottom line. The people: not so much. Profits are up big time: While the U.S. economy staggers through one of its slowest recoveries since the Great Depression, American companies are poised to report strong earnings for the second quarter—exposing a dichotomy between corporate performance and […]

Read the full story

   I really think the people who talk about "recovery" live in a world not inhabited by most Americans: The economic recovery that started in mid-2009 is losing steam. The manufacturing sector, once the driver of the recovery, stumbled in May as companies cut back on production and hiring. A persistent slowdown in hiring is […]

Read the full story

   There is a deep, deep disconnect between how the political leaders, chattering classes and traditional media view what is happening in the economy versus how the rest of the people feel the economy in their everyday lives. This has been true for quite a long time. But, it is even more true today, at […]

Read the full story

   The "economy is recovering" voices are clearly their throats again: The nation’s employers added 192,000 jobs in February, up from a gain of 63,000 the previous month, the Labor Department reported on Friday. While February’s number represented the fastest growth in nearly a year, it was partly the result of a bounce back from […]

Read the full story

   I am continually amazed at the way people–or at least the brain-dead traditional media–express surprise when this happens: In the one-two punch many had long been fearing, hiring by businesses has slowed significantly while government jobs are disappearing at a record pace. Companies added 64,000 jobs last month, after having added 93,000 jobs in […]

Read the full story

   I have, for a very long time, been very skeptical about every pronouncement of the good news about the "recovery" that seems to be around the corner each time a snippet of data comes out that political leaders grab on to to try to reassure an angry and frustrated citizenry. You can’t say that […]

Read the full story

   In one sense, this is a good thing: In the strongest employment report since the recession began nearly two years ago, the government said Friday that the nation’s employers had all but stopped shedding jobs in November, taking some of the pressure off of President Obama to come up with a wide-ranging jobs creation […]

Read the full story

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

   If you read this blog regularly, you know that I have been a skeptic about the talk about the "green shoots" in the economy–the signs that somehow the economy is getting "better". I based most of my skeptical argument about the "green shoots" on a simple fact: until working people see that they have […]

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