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Prime Numbers: Labor Day Blues as Job Growth Slows
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5 Questions For...
Hilda Solis
U.S. Secretary of Labor
  • "Unemployment is still sky-high. How will you fix it?"
    "The tide is turning. We’re now averaging 95,000 new jobs a month. We want to help workers upgrade skills so they can fill a wider variety of good jobs."
  • "On Labor Day weekend, tell us how you’ll do it."
    "Among other things, we're launching mySkillsmyFuture.org, an online tool for job seekers. Also, states that update unemployment insurance can still get Recovery Act funds."
  • "For those who have jobs but are overburdened and underpaid, what can help?"
    "They have an advocate in us. We enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act. If they feel they’re not being fairly paid for all hours worked, they can contact us."
  • "Should regulations be revamped to protect workers in unsafe conditions?"
    "I strongly support the Byrd Bill. Workers deserve laws to keep them from harm. Businesses that play by the rules deserve laws to level the playing field."
  • "Finish this sentence: The key to putting people back to work is…"
    "Retraining them for jobs of the future, including in-demand careers in high-growth fields like health care. We offer job training, career counseling, and resume help."
    
Cartoons

  • "I'd be upset, too, if they replaced my golden parachute with a dirty rolled-up carpet."

  • Equality, Fraternity, Liquidity

  • "Kenny, I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone at school: I'm an investment banker."

  • "Well, here's another two-hundred-million debt they're saddling our generation with."


  • "The sharp quills protect me from creditors."

  • "Can I interest you in a faith-based account?"

  • "Right now I think the wisest strategy is to diversify your mattresses."

  • "A group of taxpayers are here to give you your bonus, sir."

  • "The market hit new highs today, while the contrition index remained at zero."

  • "Mind if I tweak it?"

  • "if we're going to be friends with benefits, I want health and dental."

  • "I don't like the look of these. I better send them up to legal."

  • "There are no medical or pension benefits, but the employees' lounge has excellent free coffee."

  • "Recession, depression, or panic, lingerie always gets hit first!"

  • "The social conservative in the tells me to pay for dinner, but the fiscal conservative thinks we should split it."

  • "Those are fees incurred for requesting an explanation of your fees."

  • "Trust me, this place is worth the weight."

  • First National Bank & Grill

  • "I hope this isn't one of your experiments in limited government."
    
Opinions
openQuote To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, we have the best economic system among the advanced economies, "if we can keep it." That will require fundamental policy changes. closeQuote
Michael Boskin, Stanford economics professor, in The Wall Street Journal
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