SHARE        Monday, February 21, 2022
Good News? The Job Reports for January, 2022 The January jobs report was good but not great. "The Great Resignation" and high worker quit rates continue. And may continue until more jobs are good jobs, or a new recession makes more workers desperate for income right away.

SHARE        Monday, June 21, 2021
The May Jobs Report and The Fake Labor Shortage Commentary on the BLS employment report for May. And the hoopla about labor shortages, which are exaggerated, to say the least.

SHARE        Friday, March 12, 2021
"$15: We Aren't Asking for Much" Five Key Facts that centrists and progressives in Congress and across the land should keep in mind before lowering their sights from a $15 federal minimum wage.

(3 comments) SHARE        Monday, October 19, 2020
Those Gosh-Darn Lazy Unemployed People Brings facts against right-wingers who strive to cut government-benefit programs for people who need help. Jason Turner thinks there are lots of jobs out there.

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, August 20, 2020
Uber admits underpaying drivers by 30% to 120%! Uber and Lyft refuse to obey the California law ordering them to classify their employees as employees. Their business model requires underpaying their workers. They've lost in court and are shutting down in California

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, April 16, 2020
The Gig Economy: How Big, How Bad? Part I: The Numbers First step in evaluating the gig economy is to estimate how large and new it is. This piece strives to deal with numbers and categories in a not-too-technical way.

SHARE        Sunday, March 1, 2020
Would Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15 Lift Many Workers? Would it be a good thing if the federal minimum wage were raised to $15? Would that help a lot of people. This article highlights facts that answer yes and yes. It also notes that even $15 is not an adequate living wage.

SHARE        Monday, January 27, 2020
Are Real Wages Rising? What are the real facts about real wages in recent times? Job markets are supposed to be excellent for employees and unemployment seems low. Inflation, too, is low. But are real (after-inflation) wages growing very much?

SHARE        Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Way Better than A Christmas Carol Highlights a terrific article about the New Deal as a movement that made life better and one that can inspire today's Green New Dealers. And the 30s New Deal really happened. A Christmas Carol did not. znor will relying on good capitalists today help much.

SHARE        Friday, November 22, 2019
Happy Thanksgiving for Black Americans? The article uses key numbers to show that while black unemployment rates are quite low, they are still pretty high and the official rates hide a lot of hidden black unemployment. Also, income and wealth holdings have fallen farther behind white levels since 2000.

(1 comments) SHARE        Sunday, October 27, 2019
More Good Factory Jobs? What Do the Numbers Say? The effort to "bring back" factory jobs has not gone very far. This article briefly reviews the important numbers.

SHARE        Thursday, October 3, 2019
Poverty Rates are Pretty Low, but So Are Poverty Lines. Highlights of latest poverty report and a critique of the very low lines that the U.S. government uses to get a poverty rate. The lines are absurdly low and vastly underestimate the real level of poverty in America.

(6 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Want to Fix Social Security? Push Democratcs to Do the Right Thing and Vote for Democrats Most Democrats seem ready to fix the Social Security funding problem without cutting benefits. Most Republicans are not. Ergo, vote for Democrats.

SHARE        Thursday, June 20, 2019
So How's That Republican Tax Cut Working Out for the Working Class? Reviews the latest information about the broad impact of the tax cut and shows that the cuts have not brought significant benefits for average workers. Surprise: it was all about enriching the richest Americans.

(1 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, April 10, 2019
It's True: Real Wages Are Rising. But Fast Enough? And for How Long Economists are always searching for good news on the wage front.There's been a little but real wages are about where they were in the early 1970s. Political action and government reform is essential for substantive wage growth.

SHARE        Tuesday, March 5, 2019
The Manufacturing Job Increase: Back to the 50s? Careful analysis of the numbers of manufacturing workers in American in recent times. Aims to give the reader a realistic assessment of claims about "bringing back" manufacturing.

(2 comments) SHARE        Monday, October 15, 2018
Wages Rising? Despite the best labor markets in years, real wages for rank-and-file workers are not rising much at all. Many reasons are mentioned, but the article highlights the fact that real unemployment is higher than the official rate says. The essay also discusses Amazon's $15/hour wage and where it fits into the picture.

SHARE        Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Is Low Inflation the Path to Sustained Real Wage Growth? Should we hope for less inflation as the way to get more real wage growth? Should we push for larger increases in nominal pay? I believe we should assume that inflation will usually be in the 2-3% range and that workers should be getting paycheck increases of 4 to 5% a year.

(37 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, July 24, 2018
The Crummy Good Economy and the New Serfdom Another effort to explain, at apparently full employment, real wages have gone nowhere for two years. New arguments about fast-food serfdom that limits worker mobility.

(4 comments) SHARE        Friday, May 18, 2018
Unemployment: 3.9%. Finally, We Can Stop Worrying About Unemployment By conventional standards, unemployment is very low. Yet wages aren't rising much. Why? One reason is that there's a lot of hidden unemployment