labor

The notion that somehow public workers' pay packages are breaking the state budget just don't hold up. These workers' entire compensation package -- salary, health care, pensions, etc. -- make up a tiny fraction of Wisconsin's spending.

American labor unions have been in decline for a half-century now. About the only large unions still growing have been those in the public sector. Until now. Cash-strapped states are attacking unions where it hurts by trying to strip them of the right to collectively bargain.

Almost a quarter of Americans and Canadians say they expect to work past the age of 70, and 6% say they'll likely retire after their 80th birthday -- two years longer than the nations' life expectancy. That's according to a recent Nielsen survey, and it's not just a North American trend.

U.S. public opinion of labor unions rose slightly in the past year, though remains far below 2007 levels, as Americans continue to question organized labors' effect on U.S. productivity, according to a Pew Research report released Thursday.

Illegal immigrant populations are shrinking in New York, Florida and the Mountain West state as undocumented workers relocate to states that offer more promise of finding work, such as Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. And overall, the drop in immigration has stabilized.

Approval ratings for both President Barack Obama and Congress have reached their highest levels in more than a year, according to a Harris Interactive poll released Monday.

New forecasts show that the worst may be over for the construction industry, which was hit harder by the Great Recession than any other sector, as construction projects slowly resume. Some 27% of construction firms say they plan to add staff this year, while only 20% plan to cut jobs.

Americans who are unemployed or underemployed are three times as likely to fall behind on their bills as those who are fully employed, according to a Gallup Poll released Tuesday.

Highly skilled women will lose about a quarter of a million dollars, or as much as a third of their lifetime earnings, by choosing to have a child, making the prospect of raising a family a far more expensive one for college grads than their less-educated counterparts, a new study shows.

The United Auto Workers union has been bleeding members, with fewer than 400,000 at the end of 2009. With a purportedly more collaborative attitude, the group plans to unionize foreign auto manufacturers with factories in the U.S.