Working Washington

building a workers’ movement that has the power to raise wages, improve labor standards, and change the conversation about work and wealth
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Unemployment down, but not out.

Working Washington January 12, 2012

by Nate Jackson The latest report put out by the Department of Labor showed that 200,000 new jobs were created in the month of December. This was better than expected, but we still have over 5 million people who have been unemployed for over 27 weeks, the named “long term unemployed.” This is unacceptable and we have to keep pushing our elected officials and policy makers to make real change to kick this “recovery” into a higher gear. Unemployed workers fighting for good jobs. Here in Washington State from November of 2010 to November of 2011 we saw a gain of 59k jobs, but we are still tremendously short of the 205K jobs lost from the beginning of this Great Recession. There are still more people who have lost their jobs than gained and we are not even talking about what type of jobs people have accepted.

In fact,  the latest National job report says that the fastest growing industry for jobs was in the courier and messenger services. 42,000 jobs were created, but it is mostly seasonal employment to coincide with the winter holiday shopping season. These jobs are probably temporary and will not lead us to economic security for our families. It’s like a spare tire. It will help in the short term, but you can’t keep driving on it for long.

Too many “experts,” policy makers and media treat the economy like it is just a game of numbers and expectations. When they see any improvement they dust off their hands and think the job is done.

But we know that it’s a different story in our communities. Some of us fall into the “employed” sections of the data, working multiple part time jobs with no benefits and relying on hope to keep our families healthy, but we are still struggling to decide which bills to pay this week.

Some of us are on the verge of exhausting our unemployment benefits, but still haven’t been able to find a good job and don’t know what we’re going to do next.

And some of us may feel lucky to have jobs, but don’t get the reliable hours or living wages we need. Then we’re left to scramble to find someone to watch the kids every time there’s a chance to work an extra shift.

So while there may be a few more jobs in December than there were the month before, we know it’s still too hard out there to find good work.

That’s why we need to take action to make the creation of good jobs the number one priority of our elected officials. We cannot just let the politicians pat themselves on the back for one month of good news. We have to make sure that we are making the investments we need to drive this economy towards a more stable, steady future.

Tagseconomy, good jobs, jobs, occupy
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About Working Washington: Our mission is to build a powerful workers’ movement that can not only dramatically improve wages and working conditions, but can also change the local and national conversation about wealth, inequality, and the value of work. More info…

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About Working Washington

Our mission is to build a powerful workers’ movement that can dramatically improve wages and working conditions, and change the local and national conversation about wealth, inequality, and the value of work.

More about us.

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Our vision is a state where everyone shares in the prosperity we create together: a place where all workers are treated with dignity, paid enough to support themselves, and able to participate in a thriving community.

Now we’re asking supporters to step up to become members of Working Washington.

Working Washington

building a workers’ movement that has the power to raise wages, improve labor standards, and change the conversation about work and wealth

Working Washington unites working people to fight for a fair economy where everyone can support themselves, afford the basics, and contribute to the economy.

Working Washington | 719 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA, 98104, United States

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