By FRANK STRICKER The employment and unemployment numbers come from two different surveys, and at times they seem to describe different economies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) survey of 60,000 households shows that in June, unemployment rose by a tenth of a point to 5.9%, and the number of employed people actually fell a… Read More Better but Not Great (June 2021 Jobs Report Analysis)
June 2021 Unemployment Data–the Full Count The BLS estimates that official unemployment this month may be understated by up to 0.2%, reflecting measurement problems. (U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS) OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT: 5.9%*[ANALYSES by EXPERTS] White 5.2% African American 9.2% Hispanic 7.4% Asian¹ 5.8% Persons with a disability¹ … Read More Unemployment Data–JUNE 2021
By GREGORY N. HEIRES An environmental activist group has included the federal jobs guarantee as a key component of its national campaign to address the climate crisis. The Sunrise Movement’s campaign for a Green New Deal includes a call for investing $10 trillion to create 15 million jobs over 10 years. In March,… Read More Sunrise Movement: Environmental Group Joins the Fight for a Federal Jobs Guarantee
By FRANK STRICKER The good news: the unemployment rate fell from 6.1 percent to 5.8 percent and the number of added payroll jobs doubled from 266,000 in April to 559,000 in May. But the latter was, again, less than the average prediction. Also, at this rate job totals won’t return to pre-pandemic normal until late… Read More The May 2021 Jobs Report: Inequities and Employment Barriers Persist Amidst Lower Unemployment
Hallie Flanagan, Director of the FTP Flanagan on CBS Radio for the Federal Theatre of the Air, 1936. Courtesy, Wikipedia Commons. By TRUDY GOLDBERG and SHEILA COLLINS A brief but spectacular achievement, the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project (FTP) (1936-1939) provided jobs for some 13,000 destitute people at its height and created and produced 63,600… Read More The WPA’s Federal Theatre: Creating Jobs and Creative Achievement
