The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released important research about the economy in the past few weeks. Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.

The nation’s economy added 169,000 new jobs in August and the 7.3% jobless rate is down slightly from July’s 7.4%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The new jobs added were 65,000 more than the 104,000 new jobs in July (revised downward from the 162,000 originally reported), and this is the 41st straight month of tepid job growth—growth is at a rate too slow to fuel a healthy jobs recovery.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has released important research about the economy in the past few weeks. Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.

The nation’s economy added 162,000 new jobs in July and the jobless rate dropped to 7.4% from June’s 7.6%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

William Spriggs, AFL-CIO chief economist, said today’s job numbers “continue to show a very mild recovery, but they fell below expectations and are disappointing.”

The Economic Policy Institute has released important research about the economy in the past few weeks. Here's a look at some of the key pieces it uncovered about the U.S. economy.

The nation’s economy added 195,000 new jobs in June and the jobless rate remained at 7.6%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).But economists say the growth rate is far too slow to fuel a healthy jobs recovery.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate increased slightly from 7.5% to 7.6% in May. Each month, comments on this number include a discussion on “labor force participation"—the number that is released is based on people who are “in the labor force.” To be included in the labor force, someone has to either be employed, or actively looking for work. 

A new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) of the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that there was a decline in April for job openings to a total of 3.8 million, while the number of unemployed workers seeking jobs was around 11.7 million. April's level of job openings is more than 16% below where it was in the months before the recession began.

The nation’s economy added 175,000 new jobs in May and the jobless rate slightly increased to 7.6% compared to April’s 7.5%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 175,000 new May jobs outpaced April’s job growth by 10,000 and marked 38 straight months of tepid job growth. But economists say the growth rate is too slow to fuel a healthy jobs recovery.

Last week, the Social Security Trust Fund report was released. One of its more telling charts was of the trend in Social Security revenue. Social Security revenue comes from a tax on the wages of earners, paid by both employees and employers. So, essentially it tracks the level of employment. Based on the simple trend of revenues from 1990 to 2007, just before the Great Recession started, 2012 revenue would have been $899.4 billion; instead, it was $840 billion.  That gap means less money to build up the Social Security Trust Fund than expected. The trustees do not break down the revenue by the age of workers, but based on the dramatically lower employment experience of young workers, the bulk of that gap reflects the lost wages of young people.