Many U.S. workers don’t have jobs—nearly 13 million. Less known, however, is that many more don’t have good jobs—fewer than one-quarter of America’s workforce, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). The center defines a good job as one that pays at least $18.50 an hour, or $37,000 per year, equal to the inflation-adjusted earnings of the typical male worker in 1979.  A good job also includes employer-provided health insurance and a retirement plan (click on chart at left to expand).

The lack of available good jobs is not new. As CEPR finds, compared with 1979, the U.S. economy has lost about one-third (28 percent to 38 percent) of its capacity to generate good jobs.

But why?

Mark King considers the bachelor’s degree in labor studies that he received Saturday at the National Labor College’s (NLC's) class of 2012 commencement as his “keys to the kingdom.”

King, a New Hampshire school librarian and AFT member, was one of 78 graduates from 25 unions and the AFL-CIO community affiliate, Working America, who received degrees at the Silver Spring campus. He was elected class speaker of the NLC’s 14th graduating class by his peers.

Most recent young college graduates are carrying a heavy debt load for their education, and they face a harder time paying it off because their wages have plummeted as well—part of a decade-long decline, according to a new Economic Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

College grads today are wondering whether education plus hard work is really the formula for success—and for good reason. The missing ingredient in that formula? It’s leverage. The power of collective action.

"For Most Graduates, a Grueling Job Hunt Awaits," The Wall Street Journal writes today. Over the weekend, the New York Times sounded the alarm about employers' growing use of unpaid internships in fields that typically have never exploited free labor.

So, how bad is it for young workers?

Two alarming reports recently out point to long-term trends in the U.S. economy that don’t bode well for maintaining a strong middle class in this nation.