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. 

It gets a little complicated, but we’re going to drill down into some new economic data from two new analyses, showing that contrary to what Mitt Romney and his economic hatchet man Paul Ryan claim, ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will not, repeat, will not hurt the economy or job growth.

Middle-class incomes in Michigan fell between 1979 and 2007, even though the state's overall economy grew. A new study from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that over the past three decades, Michigan’s middle-class workers did worse than middle-class U.S. workers in general because collective bargaining had eroded more in Michigan than in the rest of the country. 

The vast majority of America's workers have largely been shut out of the nation’s economic growth over the past three decades, reports the 12th edition of The State of Working America from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Released today and available online, the report finds that the typical American family has added hundreds of extra hours of work each year, while also earning better education credentials, yet is still struggling to keep up.

We can strengthen the U.S. economy and invest in our nation's infrastructure and workers. A long-term plan for growth is needed, and it certainly doesn't involve austerity. 

Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker and Roosevelt Institute Founder Nathaniel Loewentheil today released their new paper,  Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All , at the Economic Policy Institute.   This bold paper provides a comprehensive plan to grow our nation’s economy in a way that works for everyone. 

The H-2B guest worker visa program is plagued by fraud and abuse. Designed to allow employers to hire temporary guest workers for nonagricultural labor, the H-2B program lacks provisions, which would protect workers from wage theft, forced labor, predatory recruitment fees and other forms of exploitation. Guest workers in the United States are legally tied to their employer and are often forced to assume crippling debts for the opportunity to pursue low-wage work.

A group of prominent economists today urged President Obama and congressional leaders to raise the federal minimum wage , which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for three years. In a letter to the president and lawmakers they wrote: 

A higher minimum wage at this juncture will not only provide raises for low-wage workers but would provide some help on the jobs front as well.

Here’s a look at other reactions to today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act, including the requirement to purchase health insurance.

AFT :

At a time when so many Americans are struggling to get by and students continue to graduate from college with a mountain of debt and few job prospects, this law puts health care within reach for working families, keeps our communities healthier and ensures that Americans can get the treatment they need, when they need it, without battling big insurance companies. We need to work together to build upon the success of the Affordable Care Act, not prolong partisan attempts to tear it apart.

Lots about inequality in the news in recent days, especially with the release of Tim Noah’s book on the topic, “The Great Divergence.”

Yet one key reason often left out in analyses of the nation’s rising inequality is the decline of union density.  Correcting that omission, the Economic Policy Institute ( EPI ) hammers home the point that up into the 1970s, labor unions both sustained prosperity, and ensured it was shared

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is long on rhetoric but short on details when quizzed about his economic policies. But the one concrete concept he embraces wholeheartedly is Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) House-passed  budget for the 1% blueprint.  

There is an alternative to the Romney/Ryan/Republican budget for the 1% and that’s the “Budget for All” proposal drafted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The Economic Policy Institute ( EPI ) and The Century Foundation have just released a detailed comparison of the two budgets.