Author: Charles Bell

(Mostly) Useful Government Numbers About Poverty, Jobs, and Unemployment, including the Latest Employment Report for February 2024    

By Frank Stricker A Failed Number             Does the Federal Government regularly publish estimates of what a reasonably comfortable living standard would be for an average household? There must be something somewhere. A government agency does publish poverty lines–aka, poverty thresholds–and its experts tell us how many people fall below… Read More (Mostly) Useful Government Numbers About Poverty, Jobs, and Unemployment, including the Latest Employment Report for February 2024    

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Getting Better All the Time? The Labor Report for January of ’24

by Frank Stricker The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on jobs and unemployment for January was mostly positive.  It continues a string of generally upbeat reports over the last two years. Official unemployment stayed under 4% for the 23rd month in a row. It was 3.7%. The Hispanic rate was still high at 5% and… Read More Getting Better All the Time? The Labor Report for January of ’24

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Review of The Case for a Job Guarantee by Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Polity Press (2020) 

by Sheila D. Collins Pavlina Tcherneva, a Professor of Economics at Bard College and a Research Scholar at the Levy Institute, has written a concisely, argued case for a federal job guarantee within the context of a Green New Deal. Citing its origins in FDR’s 1944 Economic Bill of Rights and the U.N.’s Universal Declaration… Read More Review of The Case for a Job Guarantee by Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Polity Press (2020) 

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