Work

David Skinner, taskmaster.

There have been very few Renaissance men since the Renaissance—and they weren’t exactly thick on the ground even in their glory days. No modern figure is more worthy of that appellation than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who was not only the greatest German poet, playwright,…

In the 1970s, about 10 percent of American workers required licenses to perform their jobs legally. By 2015, that proportion had more than doubled to 22 percent. There is widespread agreement among economists and an increasing awareness among politicians that there is no public-interest…

In the 1970s, about 10 percent of American workers required licenses to perform their jobs legally. By 2015, that proportion had more than doubled to 22 percent. There is widespread agreement among economists and an increasing awareness among politicians that there is no public-interest…

We’re suffering a period of remarkably low labor-force participation. The national unemployment rate was only 4.4 percent in August, but just 62.9 percent of the U.S. population is working or looking for work. Ten years ago, before the recession, the number was 65.8 percent. There are around 7…

We’re suffering a period of remarkably low labor-force participation. The national unemployment rate was only 4.4 percent in August, but just 62.9 percent of the U.S. population is working or looking for work. Ten years ago, before the recession, the number was 65.8 percent. There are around 7…

Senator Ben Sasse's new book The Vanishing American Adult calls attention to a coming-of-age crisis: The undeniable drag that consumerism, technology, and other modern forces have had on the institution of family and the work ethic for which Americans were once recognized around the world.

Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finds herself under growing scrutiny over the classified contents of dozens of emails (perhaps hundreds once the State Department finishes releasing them all) she sent and received as head of the State Department. As it turns out,…

Joe Biden will be returning to work tomorrow. It'll be his first day back at his job since the passing of his son, Beau Biden, on May 30. Biden has spent most of that time at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he'll be returning after work tomorrow.

Disclosure forms filed with the Federal Election Commission by Hillary Clinton provide fascinating details of the remarkable money-making machine that is the once-and-possibly-future first couple. Between January 2014 and the filing of the forms on May 15, 2015 (up to and including a speech by Bill…

Sometimes -- not often, but sometimes -- anecdote is more revealing than data. Especially when the data are subject to major revisions, which is the case with most monthly economic data. This is one of those times. Last week’s jobs report -- 295,00 new nonfarm jobs in February -- was a bit more…

Ian Talley of the Wall Street Journal writes that according to Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund:

The same day the White House renewed a push to increase the federal minimum wage, an announcement appeared on the White House blog for the Summer 2015 White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders [AAPI] Internship Program -- all unpaid positions. Even in prior administrations,…

The president is proposing more higher education (at the community college level) as a cure for our economic woes.  Along with some substantial tax increases, of course.  But is more college the answer?  Or should we, perhaps, be concerned about the quality of the college we already have when, as…

The headline over this Government Executive article reads:

The American public often rails about bureaucracy. It is not difficult to fathom why. Who amongst us has not fumed while standing in a long line at an understaffed post office? And how many of us have thrown up our hands in frustration at the complexity of income tax instructions and outsourced the…

A new chart from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee shows a startling fact: Almost 1 in 4 Americans between the ages of 25-54 (or prime working years) are not working. 

The administration continues to advance its arguments about the economy, with the president even tacking on to the end of his somber speech about new military action in the Middle East, a digression about how well things are going with jobs, manufacturing, and etc.

Senator Jeff Sessions has released a statement that says, "7 Million People Have Left The Workforce Since The President Took Office." The statement is in response to today's jobs numbers.

As reported by Kellie Lunney at Government Executive, the:

Speaking at a fundraiser (naturally), the president said what many have been saying. Namely that “Washington doesn’t work.” And, as Justin Sink of the Hill reports, he blamed the dysfunction on:

The government was spending too much money.  And wasting a lot of it.  The need to cut back was obvious and pressing.  So Congress passed something called the “sequester,” that would force frugality upon the government and oblige Washington, Inc. to endure the kind of downsizing that had been…

A few months ago when Obamacare was in free fall, many were left scratching their heads when the Democrats were touting stay-at-home motherhood as one of the perks of Obamacare.

Here's a rather harsh assessment of the last four years under the Obama administration's economic policies:

The boss made the argument this morning on ABC's This Week that conservatives have to be serious about making work pay:

Testifying before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Elmendorf said of Obamacare, “[T]he act creates a disincentive for people to work.” He declared, “[B]y providing heavily subsidized health insurance to people with very low income and then…

In the fifth year of "recovery," the rule seems to be that the only jobs that are available (to those who are still looking) are not full-time positions. According to a recent Gallup poll:

Edward Glaeser says “the number that sums up the year’s doldrums is the 1.27 million increase in the number of disabled Americans without jobs from November 2011 to November 2012. This statistic reflects not only the sluggish recovery but also a drifting nation, badly in need of tough medicine.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will "work from home next week" after becoming dehydrated and fainting, State Department deputy assistant secretary Philippe Reines says in a statement.

The unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is now 7.9 percent: 

In the Washington Post, Robert Samuelson highlights how Obamacare would needlessly complicate our society, make it more maddeningly litigious, give the I.R.S. more prominence, and make it harder for workers to get employers to give them so much as 30 hours a week. 

This morning, as MSNBC's Morning Joe came to an end, co-host Mika Brzezinski had some praise for colleagues and the company she works for. "We've been talking a lot this week about women and equal pay and all these issues," she said. "I have to say, in all seriousness, I'm very lucky to be working…

A new chart from the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee details the fact that, since January 2009, for every person added to the labor force, 10 have been added to those not in the labor force. Here's a chart showing the dwindling labor force:

The unemployment numbers have been released and they are dismal and, typically, unexpectedly so. Fewer than 70,000 new jobs and the least scary measure of unemployment rising from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent. According to NPR:

The largest donor to President Obama's super PAC blasted Ann Romney, the wife of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, last night on his HBO TV show for having "never gotten her a-- out of the house to work."