Jul 02 Watch 5:16 Labor participation has hit a 38-year low, and that’s a problem By PBS News Hour In June, the U.S. economy added 223,000 jobs and unemployment fell to its lowest rate in seven years. But the proportion of Americans working or looking for work is now the smallest it’s been in nearly four decades, and wages… Continue watching
Sep 04 No boss, no office, no problem! The rise of the freelance workforce By Simone Pathe Thirty-four percent of the American workforce, or 53 million workers, are freelancers, according to a survey commissioned by the Freelancers Union released Thursday. But just how independent those freelancers are depends on what type of work they're doing and whether… Continue reading
Dec 02 Watch U.S. Jobs Picture Shows Some Promise, but Many in ‘Very Long Struggle’ for Work The November unemployment report came out Friday, and it showed new job creation and a surprising drop in unemployment. However, the outlook remains bleak for many job seekers. Jeffrey Brown discusses the latest numbers with Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial… Continue watching
Oct 02 More Grim News in the Sept. Jobs Numbers Paul Solman: Today’s unemployment data are grim. I began to write “startlingly grim” but then realized that, for those of us on-the-record pessimists with regard to green shoots and recovery, the numbers aren’t startling at all. Having been on the… Continue reading
Sep 04 How Do We Compare Unemployment Across Decades If More People in a Household Are Working Now? Question: Economic reports routinely compare current unemployment statistics against historical unemployment statistics. However, I haven’t seen any discussion of the significant increase in the number of household members who are employed or looking for employment and its impact on such… Continue reading
Jul 05 Reader Response: The Uncounted Unemployed Paul Solman: A provocative response, via the PBS Ombudsman, to Thursday’s story about undercounting unemployment. The emailer said it was okay if her name was posted. I assume that means it’s okay to… Continue reading