Work & Wages

  • The Social Democrat is a strong advocate of programs that connect people with work, fostering economic inclusion. This Atlantic Monthly article looks at how some Department of Labor job programs fare in the Trump budget.

  • Slavery is illegal, but corporate America is making use of the nation’s outsized prison population for involuntary labor at Third World rates.

  • This article from the Economic Policy Institute carefully analyzes the income required to support a basic lifestyle in different regions of the United States. Nearly one-third of American families fail to meet the minimum thresholds. These numbers have broad implications for minimum wage laws and social safety net programs.

  • The Trump administration claims that the Senior Community Service Program has not justified its costs. This article takes issue with that view.

  • Hollywood screenwriters face many of the same challenges that are affecting other American workers, including shortened work schedules (and pay) and an underfunded health plan. A new contract negotiated by the Writers Guild of America addresses these concerns.

  • For most of us, our relationship with long-distance truckers consists of trying to stay out of the way of the behemoths they maneuver down our highways. This article provides a closer look at the men and women who haul the bulk of America’s supplies, who struggle with pay scales and working conditions that have significantly deteriorated with the changing, non-union economy.

  • The unemployment rate in fast-growing Utah cities like Ames has reached 2%, and employers are having trouble filling openings. Workers are benefitting from better bargaining power and wages have increased. Still Utah counts 50,000 residents still looking for work, and in many areas of the country, unemployment remains a more significant problem.

  • Stolen wages—in the form of paying less than legally mandated minimums or legally mandated overtime, failure to pay for all hours worked or reneging on promised wage rates—costs employees billions of dollars every year. This article from the Economic Policy Institute explores the problem and offers solutions.

  • A program organized by Purdue University in conjunction multiple area firms, state governments and community colleges, all funded by a National Science Foundation grant, is teaming young engineers with employers who need their skills.

  • This downloadable PDF from the National Employment Law Project provides an excellent overview of the movement for a national $15 per hour minimum wage: who will be affected (you may be surprised) and research into the proposals’ projected economic effects (you may be surprised).

  • The Economic Policy Institute’s “Raising America’s Pay” initiative is a treasure trove of expert articles on traditional social democracy’s most vital concern: work for all who desire to participate at decent wages. At this URL you will find articles on raising the minimum wage, the trend toward part-time work, how low-interest rates can sustain more jobs and better wages, and much more.

  • This article from the Economic Policy Institute carefully analyzes the income required to support a basic lifestyle in different regions of the United States. Nearly one-third of American families fail to meet the minimum thresholds. These numbers have broad implications for minimum wage laws as well as safety net programs.

  • This New York Times magazine piece looks at a successful program to give workers needed skills for locally available jobs.

  • This article, focusing on Trump’s plan to enlarge the Navy’s fleet, points up a major challenge in ending U.S. unemployment: “skills mismatch,” or otherwise put, available jobs but insufficient numbers of skilled workers to fill them. The Social Democrat supports active labor market policies, like government-sponsored training programs, to foster inclusion in America’s workforce.

  • The authors outline a proposed “National Investment Employment Corps,” a federal jobs-guarantee program.