‘Unbalanced Recovery’: Wages Falling, Low-Paid Jobs Rising Across US

‘These losses are part of an alarming trend toward greater inequality and a shrinking share of the economic pie going to workers’.

Nadia Prupis
By Nadia Prupis

While wages have declined across all sectors in the years following the financial crash of 2008, low-paid workers have been hit the hardest, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) reported this week. NELP analyzed five groups of median wages in its report, titled An Unbalanced Recovery: Real Wage and Job Growth Trends (pdf). Since 2009,

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Organizations Aim To Train Immigrant Entrepreneurs

Many of them see self-employment as a shot at the “American dream.”

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Paula Asuncion

PORTLAND, Ore. — After immigrating to Oregon from the Mexican state of Oaxaca more than two decades ago, Paula Asuncion worked on farms and in minimum wage jobs at fast-food restaurants — a widow struggling to feed six children, sharing cramped apartments with other families. Her prospects changed two years ago after she joined a program that

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Jobs: Back To Even

Two years down, four years back up — jobs have finally returned to their pre-recession peak.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Economy

As of March, the total net loss of jobs in the United States during the official recession of 2008-2009 was finally made up. The graph below says it all: The total number of jobs in the U.S. stood at 116.0 million in January 2008, then fell to 107.2 million by February 2010. The net loss of 8.8 million jobs was finally regained in March

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A Time To Examine America’s Skills

There is a desperate need to reformulate the way skills are attained and retained in the country.

Frederick Reese
By Frederick Reese

America finds itself in a quandary. According to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), not only is the skill level of the American working populace slipping compared with the international market, but the nation’s collective skill level is also significantly beneath where it should be to maintain

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Chicago Transportation Plans Aim To Put Disadvantaged Back To Work

The manufacturing of more than 850 rapid transit cars could create 20,000 jobs for the growing population of unemployment in Chicago.

Trisha Marczak
By Trisha Marczak

  This is the first in a two-part series exploring the Jobs to Move America plan and its impact on Chicago's unemployed.   When the Chicago Transit Authority opened up its bid for $2 billion for the manufacturing of more than 850 rapid transit cars for its subway and urban train system, it also requested bidders detail how they would

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Fired For Being Too Sexy? Iowa’s Supreme Court Says It’s Legal

Adental assistant in Iowa was fired from her job because her boss found her to be an “irresistible attraction.”

Katie Rucke
By Katie Rucke

According to the Iowa Supreme Court, firing an employee because they are too attractive might be unfair, but it’s also completely legal. Friday’s ruling by the all-male Iowa Supreme Court came after Melissa Nelson, a dental assistant in Iowa who was fired from her job because her boss found her to be an “irresistible attraction,” asked the court

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