Put this under the heading of “voodoo economics.”  The argument goes that the nation’s 8.9 percent unemployment rate—after nearly two years between 9 and 10 percent—is the new “normal” unemployment rate. Proponents of this absurd claim say it’s workers’ fault because they don’t have the skills to fill the jobs or don’t live near the jobs that are available.

This a cross-post from TPM by Dean Baker, economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

We now have even more evidence that inept policies from Washington are causing enormous suffering across the country. It is not quite the line that the right-wingers are pushing. The new evidence is that the stimulus worked and was, in fact, more effective than had been predicted.

If you work for a living, then you expect to be paid what you are owed and on time. But if some members of Congress have their way, public employees will be denied the pensions they worked years to earn.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama insisted on the need to protect Social Security and ensure that future generations can depend on it, and he urged bipartisanship in strengthening Social Security, “without slashing benefits” or privatization.

Asian American and Pacific Islander workers who belong to unions enjoy a large wage and benefit advantage over their nonunion counterparts, according to a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).

California’s paid family leave law “has been remarkably successful” and received high marks from both employers and workers, according to a new study released yesterday by researchers from UCLA/City University of New York (CUNY) and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).