16 facts about jobs in America that will make your blood boil

The unemployment rate is down to <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/09/06/unemployment-rate-drop-for-wrong-reasons/" rel="nofollow">7.3 percent we learned today</a>, but that isn't good news. The reason the jobless rate fell is that more people gave up looking for work.<br /><br />Times are tough for most people in America today, as huge corporations such as Walmart wield inordinate power over their workers. With that power comes union-busting, low wages and dangerous workplaces.<br /><br />In other words, there are hardly any good jobs.<br /><br />We bring you some numbers that illustrate the state of working America today, with special thanks to David Cay Johnstone at <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">The National Memo</a>, Heidi Shierholz at the <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/">Economic Policy Institute</a> and Paul Buchheit at <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/02-0#.UinZRU81MxU.facebook" rel="nofollow">Common Dreams</a>.<br /><ol><li>The <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">labor participation rate</a> -- the percentage of adult Americans with a job or seeking one — is at 63.2 percent, the <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">lowest in 35 years</a>.</li><li>There are an average of <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fewer-working-age-americans-working-20179477">three unemployed people for each job opening</a>.</li><li>The <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/">unemployment rate is between 1.5 and 1.8 times as high</a> now as it was six years ago for all groups.</li><li>Two-thirds of<a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/"> taxpayers with jobs saved nothing</a> in retirement plans in 2010.</li><li>3.8 million fewer people had<a href="http://3.8%20million%20from%202008%20to%202010/"> jobs</a> in 2010 than in 2008</li><li><a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">Only a third of workers in their twenties have any</a><a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/"> form of retirement plan at work</a>, compared to 62 percent of workers in their fifties.</li><li>75 percent of Americans near retirement in 2010 had an average of less than $30,000 saved for retirement. </li><li>Among all adult workers, only <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/failed-policy-the-401k-shrinks-in-a-growing-economy-2/">43 percent say they have a vested right to either their own money they saved or money their employer set aside for them</a>.</li><li>Since June 2009, <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployment-rate-relevant/" rel="nofollow">the public sector has lost 754,000 jobs</a>.</li><li>One out of every five American children now <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-05.pdf">lives in poverty</a>.</li><li>Nearly half the births in the United States are paid for by <a href="http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/09/nearly-half-of-births-in-the-u-s-are-covered-by-medicaid-study-finds/" rel="nofollow">Medicaid</a>.</li><li>The number of college grads working for minimum wage has <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/03/30/number-of-the-week-college-grads-in-minimum-wage-jobs/">doubled</a> in just five years.</li><li>College tuition has risen <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/02-0#.UinZRU81MxU.facebook" rel="nofollow">10 times faster than the median family income</a> in the U.S. </li><li>The percentage of Americans aged 75 to 84 <a href="http://the%20percentage%20of%20elderly%20%2875%20to%2084%29%20americans%20experiencing%20poverty%20for%20the%20first%20time%20doubled%20from%202005%20to%202009./" rel="nofollow">falling into poverty</a> for the first time doubled from 2005 to 2009.</li><li>Workers have <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/24befb45b36b626a7a_v2m6iirxb.pdf" rel="nofollow">30 percent less</a> buying power today than they had in 1968.</li><li>Since the 2008 recession, only about <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/12800-living-up-to-the-new-deal-half-the-nation-is-still-waiting">one-fifth</a> of new jobs are going to women.</li></ol><br /><br /><div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div>

economy Jobs retirement wages 16 facts about jobs in America that will make your blood boil

The unemployment rate is down to 7.3 percent we learned today , but that isn't good news. The reason the jobless rate fell is that more ...

Read more »