Leveling the playing field by enforcing our trade laws against  currency manipulation is a no-cost action that will create jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.

This week in Washington, D.C., thousands of conservative, very conservative and downright OMG extreme conservative activists will gather for the Conservative Political Action Committee’s (CPAC) annual choir session.

Looking for a job but don’t know what you want to do or where there’s a job that fits your skills? Check out the U.S. Labor Department’s new online tool.  The My Next Move website, launched late last week,  provides  job seekers with information on more than 900 occupations, as well as local job openings and training opportunities, in a simple, user-friendly format.

While it is good news that the national unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, it is important that we look deeper into the statistics to find the real story of this recession.

Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted an early Spring on Groundhog Day, but the thaw in the jobs market is still far away.  The U.S. Labor Department reported today that the country created only 36,000 jobs in January–not nearly enough to keep up with the growth in the workforce.

Three years after the Great Recession officially began, nearly 27 million U.S. workers either are jobless or in need of full-time work. At the sluggish rate the economy is creating jobs, it will take up to a decade or more before pre-recession levels of unemployment are restored, according to a new report. 

The Senate last night rejected a Republican move to repeal the health care reform law. Maybe now they will focus on the nation’s most pressing need—JOBS.

The economy has changed significantly over the past 30 years, but those changes have not made life better for  low- and middle-income Americans. In the latest edition of “The State of Working America,” Economic Policy Institute (EPI) economists point out that while the American workforce is larger, more diverse, and better educated than ever before, income growth has been slow and inequality has grown.

By 2014, the new health care reform law will mean thousands of dollars in health insurance premium savings and out-of-pocket health care costs for working families and small businesses, finds a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:

“For too long, skyrocketing health care costs have made it hard for businesses to provide coverage for employees and have made it difficult for families to afford coverage….The report shows that the health care law will bring major savings for families as it begins to take shape. Without the Affordable Care Act, consumers and businesses would face higher premiums, fewer insurance choices, and rapidly rising health care costs.”

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.