Unemployment

By Anne McMonigle
California Labor Federation

Last week, the California State Auditor released a report finding that more effective state planning and oversight is necessary for implementing the federal Workforce Investment Act in California. The findings in the audit confirm what many of us working in the WIA system already knew to be true: a nonalignment of state agency practices and policies and a complacent attitude towards performance measures, has done a disservice to California employers and job seekers alike. Highlights of the recent audit include the following:

• The California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB) has not always complied with federal and state laws.

• Although required by state law since 2006, the CWIB failed to develop a strategic workforce plan for California.

• Steps to identify unnecessary duplication among WIA programs and activities have not been taken.

By Steve Smith
California Labor Federation

A new report released today by the AFL-CIO shows that more than 305,000 Californians will lose their unemployment benefits on December 31 if Congress fails to act to extend unemployment insurance.

Electrician Alexander Stewart, who has been out of work since July 2010 and will lose benefits if Congress fails to act by the end of the year:

We elect Congress to look out for the interests of everyday people. It’s appalling that elected officials would let petty politics stand in the way of extending unemployment insurance, the only thing keeping my family and so many others afloat in these tough times.

By Isaiah J. Poole

The Census Bureau reports that the percentage of people living in poverty in the U.S. is at its highest level in almost two decades. But not to worry, says the conservative Heritage Foundation: Poor people are doing just fine:

Few of the 46.2 million people identified by the Census Bureau as being “in poverty” are what most Americans would consider poor—lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, or clothing. The typical “poor” American lives in an air-conditioned house or apartment and has cable TV, a car, multiple color TVs, a DVD player, and a VCR among other conveniences.

By Robert Borosage
Campaign for America's Future

The raw deal on the budget ceiling has been cut. The Tea Party terrorists – the extremist faction willing to hold the economy hostage to get their way – have won. The Republic, common sense and decency have been trampled.

With the economy deeply depressed, 25 million people in need of full time work, the raw deal will impede any recovery. It precludes any serious action on jobs from the federal government. It will cost jobs as spending is cut. Instead of getting serious about a plan to revive this economy and put people back to work, Washington will remain fixated on what and how much to cut. From the President to the Tea Party zealots, politicians will tell Americans that this agreement is “important to our economy.” Yes, it is important – important in the way a virus is important to a sickly patient. It will make things worse.

By Phil Angelides

Three years ago this summer, the flood tide of Wall Street recklessness began to overtop the weakened levees of restraint erected decades ago to protect our nation from financial disaster. By the fall of 2008, the economy was drowning in a sea of recession, with businesses shuttered and struggling, millions of people tossed out of their homes and their jobs, and the hopes and aspirations of millions more crushed beneath the weight of the financial floodwaters.

One year ago last week, to begin repairing the damage wrought by this avoidable catastrophe and to avert the next financial crisis, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, enacting sweeping and needed new protections for the marketplace and consumers. The law contained the most significant changes in financial regulation since the 1930s, sensibly so given the magnitude of the calamity we faced.

By Steve Smith
Callifornia Labor Federation

Between the wall-to-wall coverage on the cable news networks of the Casey Anthony trial and the latest exploits of the Kardashian sisters, it’s unlikely that a new study showing that we have a wageless recovery under way will ever see the light of day. And that’s really too bad, because it happens to be one of the most important stories of the year.

The report, by economists at Northeastern University, found that while national income rose by $528 billion between mid-2009 and the end of 2010, 88% of that growth went to corporate profits and only 1% went to workers’ wages. What’s more, the share of income growth going to wages was far lower than in previous recoveries.

By Nina Martin
New America Media

The number of empty houses and rental units in California has jumped over the past decade, according to new Census data released Thursday—another sign of how the Great Recession and housing bust have continued to batter the nation’s largest state.

Some 8.1 percent of all housing units in the state were vacant in 2010, up 55 percent from 2000.

Meanwhile, the number of extended-family households jumped by 27 percent and average household size edged up slightly—an indication that many families are sharing their homes in part because young adults and elders can’t afford to live on their own.

While the American dream of homeownership is associated with California perhaps more than any other part of the country, the latest Census data show another reality. As demographers crunch the numbers over the next few days, the portrait that emerges of a state in crisis will be telling, says Hans Johnson, an expert in population and migration issues at the Public Policy Institute of California.

By California Labor Federation

• Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has a new way of dealing with people who take a stand for what they believe in – it’s called jail. In a major shift in city policy, he is seeking jail time for dozens of peaceful protesters, including students and veterans calling for educational opportunities and union members seeking help for laid off janitors. Previous prosecutors had treated the protest-related violations as infractions, but Trutanich wants the protesters to spend up to one year in county jail. Not only does this approach threaten our free speech rights, it also wastes city and county resources when we can least afford it. As LA City Councilman Ed Reyes put it: "We should be incarcerating those who are truly public threats as opposed to students who are raising their voices out of passion for a cause."

By Dick Meister

"I AM A MAN," the signs proclaimed in large, bold letters. They were held high, proudly and defiantly, by African-American men marching through the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, in the spring of 1968.

The marchers were striking union members, sanitation workers demanding that the city of Memphis formally recognize their union and thus grant them a voice in determining their wages, hours and working conditions.

Hundreds of supporters joined their daily marches, most notably Martin Luther King Jr. He had been with the 1,300 strikers from the very beginning of their bitter struggle. He had come to Memphis to support them despite threats that he might be killed if he did.

By Dave Dayen

In his state of American business speech, US Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue asserted that the US economy will grow by 3.2% in 2011, and somewhere around 2.5 million jobs will be created. Wall Street’s dumping of safe US Treasury bonds is seen as another sign that they can grab higher yields through risk-taking, and that the economy presents those high-yield opportunities. The predictions keep rolling in, and they signal growth, regardless of the storm clouds on the horizon from things like the European debt crisis, housing prices, and state and local budget cuts.

If growth – and even mass hiring – does return, there will be a temptation from the establishment to wipe their hands of the matter, pronounce everything secure and content, and bask in the glow of a restored US economy. There will not be a lot of time for reflection on the damage caused by the Great Recession, damage that was wholly unnecessary, brought about by deregulation and bad public policy tilted to a financial oligarchy. None of the elites were touched by that damage; instead it fell on the backs of the average American worker, particularly in the form of lower wages as far as the eye can see.