The well-respected Economic Policy Institute provides some alarming statistics for us this Labor Day. There is no doubt at it. Our middle and working class in the USA faces a bleak future thanks to many years of deregulation, union-busting, so-called free trade agreements, outsourcing and tax breaks for the rich. It is time for American workers to fight back and demand an end to tax policies which allow corporations to profit for shipping our jobs overseas. The Employee Free Choice Act has to become law. We need to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich. President Obama must impose a 10% tariff on imports to reduce the massive trade deficit which is destroying U.S. jobs. We must hold our Democratic President and Congress accountable but the solution is definitely not to elect more reactionary Republicans with absolutely nothing to offer America's middle class.
Labor Day by the Numbers
Anna Turner
September 3, 2010
(Note that all numbers are current as of September 3, 2010. States numbers are current as of August 20, 2010.)
JOBS NEEDED TO REGAIN PRE-RECESSION EMPLOYMENT RATE: 11 MILLION
Change in total jobs in August 2010: -54,000; Change in jobs in August 2010, excluding 114,000 temporary U.S. Census Bureau jobs lost that month: +60,000
Change in private-sector jobs in August 2010: +67,000
Change in public-sector jobs in August 2010: -121,000; Change in public sector jobs, excluding 114,000 temporary U.S. Census Bureau jobs lost that month: -7,000
Change in size of the labor force in August 2010: +550,000
Accounting for population growth, number of workers that should have been added to the labor force since December 2007: +3.7 million; Actual change in the size of the labor force since December 2007: +241,000
The number of unemployed workers for every job opening: 5
Total jobs lost since the start of the recession: -7.6 million
Manufacturing jobs lost since the start of the recession: -2.0 million (14.9% of sector’s jobs)**
Construction jobs lost in the recession: -1.9 million (25.1%, one in four construction jobs)**
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 9.6%
Number unemployed: 14.9 million (up from 7.7 million in December 2007)**
Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than six months: 42%
Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than a year: 21.9%**
Underemployment rate: 16.7%; Number of under- and unemployed, marginally attached, and involuntary part-time workers: 26.1 million
Male unemployment: 10.6%; female unemployment: 8.6%
White unemployment: 8.7%; black unemployment: 16.3%; Hispanic unemployment: 12.0%
Average weekly unemployment benefit in July: $306; Average weekly benefit in July for those who still receive the $25 provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: $331;
STATES WITH DOUBLE-DIGIT UNEMPLOYMENT IN JULY 2010: 11
Highest unemployment rate: Nevada, 14.3%; lowest: North Dakota, 3.6%
Highest black unemployment rate: Michigan with 23.7%; Highest Hispanic unemployment rate: Nevada with 18.4%
Total change in number of state and local government jobs over the last two years (since the peak in August 2008): -282,000 jobs
CHANGE IN PRODUCTIVITY 2002-07: +11%; CHANGE IN MEDIAN COMPENSATION 2002-07: -0.6%**
Annual private-sector nominal hourly wage growth in the year before the recession: 3.4%; Nominal wage growth in 2010/2009: 1.6%
Share of income growth going to the top 1% of households from 1989 to 2007: 56%; Share of income growth going to the bottom 90% of households: 16%
Ratio of average CEO’s pay to typical worker’s pay in 1973: 27 to 1; Ratio right before the recession in 2007: 275 to 1
OVERALL SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT CUT FROM CURRENT RETIREMENT AGE INCREASE (65 to 67): 13%
Average annual Social Security benefit for a retiree: $14,050
Share of retirees receiving all their income from Social Security: more than 1 out of 4
Share of retirees receiving more than half of their income from Social Security: 69%
Share of older Americans (age 45 onwards) who prematurely took out funds from their 401(k), IRA, or other retirement investments in 2009: 18%; Share of Hispanic older Americans who did so: 22%; Share of African American older Americans who did so: 26%
Total decline in assets from pensions, 401(k)-style accounts and IRAs between 2007 and 2009: $1.5 trillion
Number of workers whose employers do not offer a retirement plan: 78 million (49%)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR YOUTH (16-24): 18.1%
Share of youth (16-24) who are neither employed nor enrolled in school:* 17.9%
Number of young people (16-24) who have dropped out of the labor force since the recession began:* 1.1 million
Youth (16-24) share of the labor force in August 2010:* 13.6%; Youth share of the unemployed:* 25.6%
Unemployment rate for young (16-24) black workers in January 2010: 32.5%; For young Hispanic workers: 24.3%; For young white workers: 15.2%
The average student debt of graduates from private four-year institutions in 2000/01: $16,906; Average debt in 2007/08: $25,350
ANNUALIZED RATE OF GDP GROWTH, 2nd QUARTER, 2010: 1.6%
When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will cease to provide any boost to growth rate of GDP: Last quarter of 2010
Change in size of the economy since the start of the recession 31 months ago:* shrunk 1.3%
Number of full-time equivalent jobs supported through expansion of unemployment insurance since the beginning of the recession: 1.7 million
* Data is newly updated by EPI but links to original reports with older numbers.
** EPI calculation using Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/labor_day_by_the_numbers1
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