Workers who want full-time hours but are only given part-time work are considered underemployed in the category of involuntary part-time workers. The National Council of La Raza's Monthly Latino Unemployment Report shows that Latinos, from November 2011 to October 2011, had the highest rate of involuntary part-time work. 

Paul Krugman reminds us in his New York Times column today that the real economic problem right now is a jobs crisis—not a deficit crisis. The unemployment rate may have dipped, but the number of jobless workers is more stubborn. So why aren’t pundits and the rest of the Inside-the-Beltway crew screaming about unemployment?

The nation’s jobless rate dropped to 7.7% in November—down from October’s 7.9% and the lowest level since December 2008—as the economy added 146,000 new jobs last month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The 146,000 jobs created reflect 33 straight months of positive job growth.

The economy added 171,000 new jobs in October—the 32nd straight month of positive job growth—according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The nation’s unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9%, up slightly from September’s 7.8%. The labor force grew by more than half a million workers in October, which is a positive sign, as more workers are seeking and finding jobs. The number of discouraged and involuntary part-time workers has fallen since last year.  

The newly created jobs exceeded most economists’ predictions of 100,000 to 125,000 new jobs for the month. Also, September payrolls were revised to a gain of 148,000 from an initially reported 114,000, and August to 192,000 from 142,000.

The unemployment rate declined from 8.1% in August to 7.8% in September, with 114,000 jobs added last month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There has been positive private-sector job growth for more than two and a half years. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says this morning’s jobs report:

confirms that the economy is finally beginning to build some momentum, as we work to dig out of the devastatingly deep hole that President Obama inherited from George W. Bush and a generation of flawed policies.  Now we need the President and Congress to build on this momentum and keep their focus on job creation, including by passing the American Jobs Act. 

We learned a lot of things about Mitt Romney during last night's debate. Not only does he want to continue the failed economic policies that brought on the recession in the first place, but he also wants to hand our feathered friend Big Bird the pink slip to continue tax breaks for the wealthiest people (the math doesn't add up). The candidates talked a lot about taxes, education and social insurance programs, but what we really enjoyed about the debates last night was listening to working people on Twitter and on our AFL-CIO Now blog's live chat. 

Read the entire live chat thread below and check out some of the top comments and insights from our readers:

Why does Romney keep saying what his plan isn't? 5 weeks out, we deserve specifics #LetsDebate

— Liz McElroy (@lizmcelroy) October 4, 2012

This is the second of a four-part series describing what went wrong with America’s economy and how to fix it. See Part 3 tomorrow and read Part 1: "Tell Us What You Think: What’s Wrong With the U.S. Economy? The Real Scoop"—and please leave a comment to tell us what you think. (Click the chart to enlarge.)

If the short answer is “we’re still recovering from the Crash of 2008,” the long answer is “there was obviously something wrong with the economy long before the Crash of 2008.” 

There were obvious warning signs during the Bush years that should have set off alarm bells.  Most importantly, wages and middle-class family incomes were dead in the water.  The median income for working-age families started falling in 2000 and never recovered during the 2001-2007 recovery.

This is the first of a four-part series describing what went wrong with America’s economy and how to fix it. See Part 2 tomorrow—and please leave a comment to tell us what you think. (Click the chart to enlarge.)

The Great Recession officially ended more than three years ago, but working families know there’s still something wrong with the U.S. economy.  If we want to fix our economy, we first have to understand what’s wrong with it. (Click chart on the left to enlarge). 

Starting today, in a series of four posts and infographics, we’ll spell out what we see as the short-term and long-term causes of our economic problems and we’ll point to specific solutions.

The unemployment rate declined from 8.3 percent in July to 8.1 percent in August, with 96,000 jobs added last month, according to data out this morning from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The improvement in the unemployment rate was due to workers dropping out of the labor force, not to an increase in employed workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). 

Young workers in the euro zone have been among the hardest hit by the global economic crisis, and now even those in regions like East Asia, where economies have remained strong through the recession, are struggling to get jobs, a new International Labor Organization (ILO) report shows (click chart to enlarge).