unemployment rate

Margaret Benefiel 9-06-2011

Yesterday, the U.S. and Canada celebrated Labor Day, a day honoring workers. What does it mean to honor workers at a time of high unemployment, job insecurity, and the threat of lay-offs? In the U.S., the unemployment rate remains just over 9 percent, with no decrease of the rate in August and the recovery of jobs apparently stalled. As President Obama prepares to deliver his "jobs speech" this week, he faces immense challenges.

In the U.S., the first celebration of Labor Day was held in 1882 in New York City, organized by the Central Labor Union. In Canada, Labor Day can be traced back even further, to when Toronto Typographers went on strike for a 58-hour work week in 1872. Religious leaders, both nationally and internationally, recognizing the sanctity of labor, joined labor leaders in calling for justice for workers. Pope Leo XIII, for example, issued Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) in 1891, building a biblical foundation for the dignity of the worker.

We met 10-year-old Noor Al-Abid in November during our first visit to Gaza.

As the old saying goes, 'In God we trust -- all others pay cash.' As our economy shows promising signs of recovery, the cash is not translating into jobs.
Johnathan Smith 1-17-2011

In his "I Have a Dream" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Claire Lorentzen 9-20-2010
It is the highest number America has ever seen: 43.6 million people are living in poverty in the United States, the wealthiest country in the world.
Eugene Cho 3-15-2010

First of all, I have several pictures below I'd love to share with you from my recent trip to Haiti. It's surreal to me that a week ago, I was in Haiti -- hosted by the good folks at World Concern. The primary reason was to assess the work they've done and grasp a glimpse of the strategy ahead -- for them and other organizations.

Sheldon Good 11-18-2009

091118-biden-daily-showJoe Biden admitted last night on The Daily Show that the billions of dollars we've spent on big bank bailouts is "socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the poor." No kidding. There's been much consternation related to the bailout of Wall Street. And even though ...

Jennifer Kottler 11-05-2009
I don't know about you, but I rarely, if ever travel the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. I've heard it's a rough neighborhood -- people get robbed, beaten and left for dead.
Barbara Grady 5-27-2009
Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, has been dividing rich and poor, black and white, jobless and employed in this city since the days of Jim Crow when it was a legal line of segregation.
Bob Greenstein 4-07-2009

I've been asked for a few words about how the recession may affect poverty in the United States, and also about policy issues related to poverty that have emerged from the economic recovery legislation and from the budget debate on Capitol Hill.