Work shared, jobs spared, By Christine Vestal, April 7, 2010, Stateline.org: “When homes sales started tumbling more than three years ago, New York-based window shade manufacturer, Comfortex, felt the pain. But instead of cutting jobs, the 300-employee business reduced some of its workers’ hours, and the state labor department agreed to make up part of their lost wages with unemployment checks. Called work sharing, or short-time compensation, the program has helped thousands of companies avoid layoffs in New York and 16 other states. This year, lawmakers in seven more states are considering bills that would authorize the widely praised approach to saving jobs…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty