Joyce Sheppard

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Congress Has A Lengthy “To-Do” List for the Unemployed  (3 days, 8 hours ago)
  

  President Barack Obama just released a “To-Do List” for legislators, laying out the White House’s top public policy priorities for the year. In part, this list is meant to function as reminder to Congress that they still need to work collectively to solve the country’s problems, despite the upcoming election. The obligation [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: How Bad Things Are  (1 week, 2 days ago)
  

  by, Paul Krugman
  The Huffington Post, May 8, 2012
  
  In March 2009 Ben Bernanke, normally neither the most cheerful nor the most poetic of men, waxed optimistic about the economic prospect. After the fall of Lehman Brothers six months earlier, America had entered a terrifying economic nosedive. [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard commented on the blog post Thanks for fighting for me…  (3 weeks, 2 days ago)
  

  Barbara, Thanks for all the hard work you do! I’ve appreciated your work since you were first elected!

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Tell Your State Lawmakers to Stop Unemployment Insurance Debit Card Fees  (1 month, 2 weeks ago)
  

  Many states are shortchanging the unemployed by distributing unemployment benefits on debit cards loaded with extraneous fees.
  Prepaid bank cards provide the jobless easy access to their benefits and can help those without a bank account avoid check cashing fees and the risk of carrying cash. However, Big Banks are stinging too many unemployed Americans with [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Tell Congress to Pass the Rebuild America Act  (1 month, 2 weeks ago)
  

  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced new sweeping legislation to restore the U.S. economy, revitalize the middle class, put unemployed and underemployed Americans back to work and help our nation compete globally.
  The Rebuild America Act includes a litany of pro-worker measures including a provision to save and create jobs, modernize our nation’s infrastructure, create a [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Two Jobs Available in Washington, D.C.  (1 month, 2 weeks ago)
  

  AFL-CIO has two great positions open—Website Editor/Manager and Blog Editor—and are looking for extraordinary individuals to fill them.
  These two positions are critical to making the totally revamped AFL-CIO website and blog as dynamic and effective as possible — and as helpful as possible to our affiliates and all working people.
  People who are interested in applying [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: UCubed: WPA 2.0 is Solution to Unemployment Crisis  (2 months, 1 week ago)
  

  WASHINGTON — February’s unemployment rating would have seen significant change had our nation’s leaders put in place a 21st century Works Progress Administration (WPA), says UCubed.
  “Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s WPA put 8.5 million people to work during the Great Depression,” said UCubed Executive Director Rick Sloan. “The WPA changed lives. It changed our country. A modern-day [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Summary of U.S. Real Unemployment – February 2012  (2 months, 1 week ago)
  

  The official BLS unemployment figures for February, 2012:
  1.  Rely on the Current Population Survey of households – often referred to as the “Birth/Death Model” – which is just that, a survey, even though much more accurate payroll data is available.  The Birth/Death Model fairly consistently overestimates actual job creation.
  2.  Exclude changes in employment among the [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Major Hearings on Unemployment to Occur this Spring in Seattle  (2 months, 3 weeks ago)
  

  The University of Washington has joined with the City Council of Seattle in holding a two-day event called the Unemployed Nation Hearings. The goal is to highlight the consequences of massive, enduring unemployment via semi-official hearings featuring testimony from men and women struggling with unemployment.  [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: CareerFuel – New Website Targets Unemployed, Aspiring Entrepreneurs  (2 months, 3 weeks ago)
  

  Thinking of starting your own business? Get inspired and find the tools you need at CareerFuel. CareerFuel offers “one-stop shopping” for the information you need to secure a new job or strike out on your own. Their goal is to become “America’s Mentor,” providing you with regularly updated employment-related news, blogs, [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Summary of US Real Unemployment – January 2012  (3 months, 1 week ago)
  

  As we note each month, the economy, in order simply to keep up with the nation’s natural population increase, must add around 150,000 new jobs each month (and evidence at least 3.0% annual GDP growth).  Yet with real unemployment remaining at nearly an unprecedented level, an additional or further 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs are [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: It’s too early to cut back on unemployment benefits  (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  

  By Heidi Shierholz | February 1, 2012
  Congress is debating whether to renew legislation that extended unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed for up to 99 weeks (providing 73 weeks of federal benefits beyond the regular 26 weeks of state-financed benefits in most states). A good benchmark for testing whether this is a good idea [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: The Truth Behind the Government Jobs Figures  (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  

  During his State of the Union address, President Obama presented many ideas for kick-starting job growth. They included large-scale job training programs, “insourcing” positions that have been shipped overseas, and tax breaks for companies that keep their operations here at home.
  It’s vital that Congress and the White House actually follow through [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Out of Work, Nearly Out of Money  (3 months, 4 weeks ago)
  

  For a jobless, struggling South Carolina man, reality isn’t a political debate
  by Eli Saslow, January 18, 2012, The Washington Post
  CONWAY, S.C. — He awoke to his alarm on Monday morning at 6, just like always, even though his handwritten schedule for the day read only: “Find something to do!” Steven Murdock, 39, poured himself a [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Mitt’s Real Job Record  (4 months ago)
  

  GOP Frontrunner Mitt Romney has taken a beating, and rightfully so, in recent weeks over his time at the investment firm Bain Capital. The kind of leveraged buyouts and speculative investments the firm specialized in often came with major layoffs for the companies involved.
  Romney claims he actually created jobs during his time at Bain — [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Follow Your Lead  (4 months ago)
  

  Dear UCubed Leaders:
  My New Year’s resolution is to be brief. So the salutation to this letter is shorter. It conveys what I expect will happen this year: You will lead this country in a new direction.
  The Union of Unemployed starts 2012 with 904 cubes … 4,626 activists … and 55,933 UCubed Facebook fans.  [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Primary Race Moves to Economically Strapped States  (4 months ago)
  

  by David Leonhardt, January 11, 2012, The New York Times
  Now comes the economic-bust phase of the Republican primaries.
  Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to hold nominating contests, are both among six states with the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Their economic strength benefited Mitt Romney, who has performed much better with affluent, [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Summary of U.S. Real Unemployment – December 2011  (4 months, 1 week ago)
  

  Summary of U.S. Real Unemployment
  Leo Hindery
  
  Our alternative Summary of U.S. Real Unemployment makes these three important adjustments.  This Summary, adjusted this month for BLS’s traditional (albeit often large) year-end adjustments, also identifies average weeks unemployed, job openings, and the Real Jobs Gap that needs to be filled in order to be at 5% full employment [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: December Unemployment Report Will Be ‘Misleading’  (4 months, 1 week ago)
  

  “Tomorrow’s unemployment numbers will be misleading,” said Rick Sloan, Executive Director of the Union of Unemployed.
  “Since the start of this recession, 7.3 million Americans have dropped out of the workforce. They stopped looking for jobs. They’re not counted by the government but should be,” added Sloan.
  Adding those workers back into the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Our Turf  (4 months, 1 week ago)
  

  Dear UCubed Leaders:
  Now the presidential campaign moves onto our turf — states with high concentrations of joblessness. In the next month, primaries and caucuses will be held in eight states with 2,014,400 “officially” unemployed.
  On January 10th, New Hampshire votes; it has 38,700 “officially” unemployed – more jobless residents than the number of caucus attendees won [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: NY Gov. Cuomo Pushes Job Creation in 2012 Agenda  (4 months, 1 week ago)
  

  by Thomas, Kaplan, January 4, 2012, The New York Times
  Governor Cuomo: “It all comes down to one word: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs…”
  ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, vowing to revive New York’s stagnant economy, on Wednesday unveiled more than a dozen initiatives aimed at creating jobs across the state, including building the nation’s largest convention [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: YOU DID IT  (4 months, 2 weeks ago)
  

  Dear UCubed Leaders, Activists and Fans:
  You did it!
  If you look at the UCubed Facebook page, it now records over 50,000 fans. That’s a great way to start 2012!!
  According to Facebook, those 50,000 UCubed fans have over 15.2 million friends and fans! And that is our potential reach if everyone “likes” a post.
  Simply amazing, isn’t it?
  And [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: The School Lunch Barometer  (4 months, 2 weeks ago)
  

  The New York Times, editorial, December 29, 2011
  The economic downturn is driving more and more families into the ranks of the poor and the “near poor” who barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. This pattern is chillingly clear from the rising numbers of formerly middle-class children now qualifying for free or low-cost meals under [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: The limits of our jobs debate  (5 months ago)
  

  by Katrina vanden Heuvel, December 13, 2011, The Washington Post
  The economic debate in Washington and in Europe resembles yesterday’s rejected pastry — half-baked, stale and inadequate in nutrition. Neither American party has stepped up to the crisis we face. Republicans seem intent on returning to the Bush years — repealing health-care legislation and financial reform, [...]

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  Joyce Sheppard wrote a new blog post: Targeting the Unemployed  (5 months ago)
  

  December 12, 2011, Editorial, The New York Times
  The House Republican leadership managed to get one thing right in its bill to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. The bill does, indeed, extend the payroll tax cut for another year, but, beyond that, there is a lot to dislike. To help pay for the [...]