Quick stats to remember Labor Day by . . .

Stat house
September 2003

Quick stats to remember Labor Day by:
More than 9 million Americans were unemployed in August, and the nation's current rate of unemployment was 6.2 percent. But since this figure only counts people actively seeking employment (ignoring so-called discouraged workers, those who, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics guidelines have "given up looking for work"), it tends to underplay the true socio-economic impact of unemployment. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a more comprehensive measure of labor market distress is the "underemployment rate," which adds various categories of under-utilization to the unemployment rate, including discouraged workers and those working part time who would prefer full-time jobs (this latter group grew by 150,000 in July and is up 41 percent since the recession began in March 2001).

The EPI's July 2003 underemployment rate was 10.2 percent, four percentage points higher than the unemployment rate.

Another indicator of the lack of jobs is the increase in long-term unemployment. In July, the share of job-seekers who have looked for work for at least 15 weeks rose to 39.8 percent, the highest level since July 1983, when the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent.

According to the AFL-CIO:

• Union members earn 26 percent more than their nonunion counterparts.

• More than 75 percent of union workers have health benefits. Less than half of nonunion workers have health coverage.

• Nearly 70 percent of union workers have a pension. Only 14 percent of nonunion workers have one.

• The 10 states where unions are strongest have higher earnings, better health coverage, less crime, more civic participation, less poverty and better schools than the 10 states where union membership is lowest.

• More than 42 million nonunion workers say they want to join a union. However, employers often harass and intimidate workers when they join together to form their union. That is wrong, often illegal and most definitely a violation of the human rights of those workers. Independent research shows that,

• 25 percent of employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns.

• 75 percent of employers hire union-busters to fight union organizing.

• 78 percent of employers force employees to attend one-on-one meetings with their own supervisors against the union.

• 52 percent of employers threaten to call the Immigration and Naturalization Service during organizing that includes undocumented workers.

• 51 percent of companies threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election, however, less than 1 percent ever actually do that.

According to the Worldwatch Institute:

• In 2001, the average annual pay of U.S. CEOs topped $11 million—some 350 times as much as the U.S. factory worker, who earned on average $31,260.

"Growing pay discrepancies in the United States emerge largely from a compensation system skewed in favor of the CEO, most notably the common practice of offering stock options (giving CEOs the right to buy company stock in the future at a price set today). This system has effectively put CEOs at odds with workers, and placed jobs in jeopardy because they have encouraged executives to take excessive risks that inflate stock values and to use accounting methods that overstate company earnings."

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