{"id":2725,"date":"2015-11-02T13:38:02","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T13:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/njfac.org\/wp2015101\/?page_id=2725"},"modified":"2015-11-13T19:58:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T19:58:28","slug":"njfac-newsletter-september-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/njfac-newsletter-september-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"NJFAC Newsletter (September 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Download this issue: September 2015<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Jobs for All Coalition is poised to turn a corner. With new leadership, exciting new projects, and a stunning\u00a0new website we are in a better position than ever to pursue our version of the American Dream: a living-wage job for all. \u00a0For too many Americans, unemployment has turned that American Dream into a nightmare. Despite the drop in the August\u00a0unemployment rate to 5.1%–and pundits\u2019 claim that we\u2019re at \u201cfull employment, millions of people are still jobless and\u00a0almost as many are laboring year-round, full time for less than the paltry four-person poverty level. Since the recession\u00a0many jobless workers have dropped out of the labor force. If the rate of participation in the labor force were at its prerecession\u00a0level, official unemployment in August 2015 would have been 7.2% instead of 5.1%. Together we must change\u00a0this.<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t stress enough that the official unemployment rate conceals more than it reveals. It\u2019s the job of NJFAC to educate\u00a0and convince the public that unemployment is a much bigger problem than they are led to believe by the official rate. With\u00a0our new, much more user-friendly, soon-to-be opened website–designed by a leading graphic artist—NJFAC will\u00a0continue to \u201ctell the whole story\u201c of unemployment even better than it has since its founding. Our \u201cwhole story\u201d includes\u00a0those excluded from the official count\u2014\u201cthe hidden unemployed:–those who want full-time work but are forced to work\u00a0part-time and those who want a job but aren\u2019t actively looking, perhaps because they\u2019ve become discouraged, or can\u2019t find\u00a0decent, affordable child care, or lack transportation. The Hidden Unemployed are greater in number than the official\u00a0unemployed: 12.5 million in August 2015, compared to 8.0 million, the official number. Easily accessible on our website\u00a0will be more of the \u201cwhole story\u201d\u2014analysis of the Problem of Unemployment, its Solution and what actions you can take\u00a0to achieve this American Dream. One new feature of the website will be an aid to action\u2014a Calendar of Events taking\u00a0place across the country that will provide ideas and encouragement to everyone eager to Act on behalf of Living-Wage Jobs\u00a0for All.<\/p>\n

In August Social Security celebrated its 80th birthday, having come a long way since 1935\u2014from providing benefits to a \u00a0portion of retired and unemployed workers to nearly universal coverage. Yet, Social Security still lacks the keystone of\u00a0economic security. You guessed it–a living-wage job for all who want to work. (Take a look at my Huffington Post\u00a0blog, \u201cSocial Security at Eighty<\/a>).<\/p>\n

For the first time in over 40 years, there\u2019s a bill pending in Congress that would fill the jobs gap and create full\u00a0employment– H.R. 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act, introduced by ranking\u00a0member of the House, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI). We\u2019re proud to report that Philip Harvey, a member of the NJFAC\u00a0Executive Committee contributed significantly to the version of H.R. 1000 that was introduced in the current 114th Congress.\u00a0(For a summary of the Bill, see Conyers Bill HR 1000 Summary: Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act<\/a> on the NJFAC website).<\/p>\n

NJFAC is the Prime Sponsor of mid-October \u201cTown Hall\u201d Meetings in Dayton and Columbus Ohio. Featuring Rep.\u00a0Conyers, these Town Hall Meetings–co-sponsored by a long list of labor, religious, health care reform, and full employment\u00a0organizations —will include hearings on the impact of long-term employment and poverty on communities and will focus on\u00a0raising wages, achieving affordable health care, and job creation. Organized by NJFAC\u2019s Outreach Coordinator Logan\u00a0Martinez, these Town Hall Meetings in high unemployment areas of Ohio are pilot programs. NJFAC intends to hold similar\u00a0Town Hall Meetings in cities across the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long time since the 1930s. Most Americans now alive are not fully aware of how greatly the New Deal work programs\u00a0gave the unemployed jobs and changed the face of this nation. One estimate is that without their improvements to\u00a0infrastructure the US might not have won World War II, not to mention reforestation, soil conservation and other\u00a0environmental sustainability programs. Lest we forget, the Living New Deal, a nonprofit based at the University of\u00a0California Berkeley, is documenting these contributions by mapping thousands of New Deal sites all over the country. By\u00a0informing the public about the programs that not only rescued the unemployed during hard times but that continue to serve\u00a0the nation today, the Living New Deal helps us to advance the goal of jobs for all.<\/p>\n

We are proud to announce that a number of distinguished advocates of \u201cjobs for all\u201d have joined our Board of Directors.\u00a0These new members increase our diversity, our knowledge resources, and our prestige. See \u201cMeet Our New Leaders\u201d<\/a> on\u00a0the website.<\/p>\n

With this new leadership, the Town Hall Meetings, and our collaboration with the Living New Deal, NJFAC is better\u00a0equipped than ever to lead the struggle for full employment. We urge you to work with us and to donate or pledge\u00a0generously so that we can move ever closer to an American Dream that includes living-wage work for all–and an\u00a0end to the nightmare of unemployment.<\/p>\n

Trudy Goldberg, Chair<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Download this issue: September 2015 The National Jobs for All Coalition is poised to turn a corner. With new leadership, exciting new projects, and a stunning\u00a0new website we are in a better position than ever to pursue our version of the American Dream: a living-wage job for all. \u00a0For too many Americans, unemployment has turned… Read More NJFAC Newsletter (September 2015)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2725","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}