Emmelle Israel, AFL-CIO Media Outreach fellow, sends us this.

“Unemployed, Not Undeserving”—the first-ever congressional briefing on Asian American and Pacific Islander unemployment and job creation—yesterday brought to light issues of long-term unemployment, income inequality, and the need for bold jobs legislation as it relates to Asian American and Pacific Islander workers.

Combine Friday’s dismal jobs report that showed the economy added just 80,000 jobs in October with recent unemployment reports and the evidence is clear that job creation is just not taking off.  If this recovery followed the pattern set by other recessions, the nation should be seeing about 300,000 new jobs every month.

As Greece teeters toward collapse because of austerity measures imposed upon it by international lenders, the current doctrine of cutting public employment and programs in the midst of an economic crisis perhaps deserves a reassessment.

The U.S. economy added just 80,000 jobs in October and the nation’s unemployment rate dipped slightly to 9 percent, down from September’s 9.1 percent, according to thelatest figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The nation’s economy needs 130,00-150,000 new jobs each month just to keep up with the influx of new workers. As economist Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) puts it: 

At this rate, the labor market will never start putting the backlog of nearly 14 million unemployed workers back to work.  In other words, given the enormous scope of the unemployment problem, this minimal level of job creation will keep us mired in disastrously high unemployment.

Cuts instituted by Congress for the 2011 fiscal year eliminate some 370,000 jobs, while endangering the public and delaying necessary repairs and infrastructure work that will only be more expensive to complete in the future, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP).

New figures on paychecks paint a grim picture for the average worker, while the ranks of those who annually make $1 million or more increased in 2010.

The nation’s so-called economic recovery hasn’t been one for either job growth or income, according to two new reports out today.

The U.S. economy added just 103,000 jobs in September and the nation’s unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent, according to the latest figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data  out this morning. Some 45,000 of those jobs, however, reflected Verizon workers’ return to work following a strike. According to Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economist Heidi Shierholz, at the current rate of job creation, “the unemployment rate will soon begin to rise again.”

Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff files this report.

Wow! Take a look at these photos from the America Wants to Work event in New Mexico over the weekend!

Three years into the nation’s brutal recession, America’s workers continue to suffer from massive joblessness, skyrocketing foreclosures and weak buying power. But Wall Street—with corporations sitting on $2 trillion in cash—hasn’t paid for its role in causing the near-collapse of the U.S. economy.