Harder for Americans to rise from lower rungs, By Jason DeParle, January 4, 2012, New York Times: “Benjamin Franklin did it. Henry Ford did it. And American life is built on the faith that others can do it, too: rise from humble origins to economic heights. ‘Movin’ on up,’ George Jefferson-style, is not only a sitcom song but a civil religion. But many researchers have reached a conclusion that turns conventional wisdom on its head: Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe. The mobility gap has been widely discussed in academic circles, but a sour season of mass unemployment and street protests has moved the discussion toward center stage…”
Day: January 6, 2012
Joblessness and Unemployment
- US ended year with a surge of hiring, adding 200,000 jobs; unemployment rate at 8.5 percent, Associated Press, January 6, 2012, Washington Post: “Four painful years after the Great Recession struck and wiped out 8.7 million jobs, the United States may finally be in an elusive pattern known as a virtuous cycle – an escalating loop of hiring and spending. The nation added 200,000 jobs in December in a burst of hiring that drove the unemployment rate down two notches to 8.5 percent, its lowest in almost three years, and led economists to conclude that the improvement in the job market might just last…”
- U.S. economy gains steam as 200,000 jobs are added, By Shaila Dewan, January 6, 2012, New York Times: “Maybe it is time to start calling the glass half full. The United States added 200,000 new jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday, a robust number that came on the heels of a flurry of heartening economic news. Consumer confidence has lifted, factories have stepped up production and small businesses are showing signs of life. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly two years. It was the sixth consecutive month that the economy showed a net gain of more than 100,000 jobs – not enough to restore employment to prerecession levels but enough, perhaps, to cheer President Obama as he enters the election year…”
Child Support Formula – Illinois
Illinois may alter child support formula, By Bill Ruthhart, December 30, 2011, Chicago Tribune: “State officials for the first time in decades are pushing a major overhaul of a system that touches one of the most volatile of all family issues: how child support is calculated. The move aims at making the process fairer by considering both parents’ incomes and time spent with the child, but some advocates already are arguing to change – or scrap – the new proposal, which won’t be finalized until next spring. If Illinois switches the calculation, it would join 38 other states that already have adopted versions of what’s known as the ‘income shares’ formula…”