The nation’s economy added 165,000 new jobs in April while the jobless rate dropped to 7.5% from March's 7.6%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

"The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.”

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that in 1965, and African Americans still hear his quote ring.

A new report, Blacks in Unions: 2012, by the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Labor Research and Education, finds that black workers are 19% more likely to be in unions than non-black workers. In the nation’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, African Americans are 42% more likely than non-blacks to be in unions.

The nation’s economy added just 88,000 new jobs in March while the jobless rate dipped to 7.6% from February’s 7.7%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

While the 88,000 jobs created reflect 36 straight months of positive job growth, during the previous 12 months job growth had averaged about 169,000 a month. The small number of new jobs also shows how important it is that Congress repeals the sequester to stop any additional job loss in the public and private sectors. These across-the-board cuts will cost more than 750,000 jobs this year alone and could derail the economic recovery.

The nation’s economy added 236,000 new jobs in February and the jobless rate was 7.7% from January's 7.9%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The 236,000 jobs created reflect 35 straight months of positive job growth. But the number of long-term unemployed (those who are jobless for 27 weeks or more) was unchanged at 4.8 million. These people account for 40.2% of the unemployed.

While the nation’s economy added 157,000 new jobs in January, the job creation wasn’t enough to prevent the unemployment rate from slightly ticking up from December’s 7.8% to 7.9% last month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The 400,000 drop in labor union membership announced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week is discouraging. The bigger story is that at the center of the drop is the decline in employment for public-sector workers, most notably local government workers. This has been the weakest sector of the economy.  And that largely reflects the decline in teachers. So, this is not so much about unions losing, but the continued lack of focus of American economic policy on maintaining investments for America’s future in the face of the ongoing weak economy. The myopic debates on the fiscal deficit and cutting budgets to meet the educational needs of America’s children (in order to preserve tax cuts for the currently wealthy) is not a plan to make America succeed in the long run.

The union membership rate was 11.3% in 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which released updated figures today. This decrease in union membership highlights the painful fact that people are working harder but are making less and less. 

One area that saw a significant loss was in the public sector. There are nearly 400,000 fewer union members, from teachers in the classroom to police and firefighters that keep us safe. In manufacturing, the jobs that have returned so far are largely low-wage, nonunion jobs. 

The nation’s economy added 155,000 new jobs in December and the jobless rate was unchanged from November’s adjusted 7.8%, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The 155,000 jobs created reflect 34 straight months of positive job growth.

The nation’s jobless rate dropped to 7.7% in November—down from October’s 7.9% and the lowest level since December 2008—as the economy added 146,000 new jobs last month, according to figures released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The 146,000 jobs created reflect 33 straight months of positive job growth.

In 2011, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that forced workers to miss at least one day on the job, accounted for one-third of all workplace injuries that required time off from work. That’s up from 29% in 2010, according to recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).