Analysis

Inflation hits 41-year high

If you haven’t gotten an 8.6% raise over the past year, you’re not keeping up with inflation, which is at its highest level since 1981.

A sign that the working class is rising

Two decades of Gallup polls show a trend: Americans are increasingly calling themselves “working class” again.

Unemployment is down. But then so is employment.

Unemployment was down to 4.0% last month, almost back to 3.5%, where it was two years ago before the pandemic.

The 16 biggest strikes of 2021

Bureau of Labor Statistics reports annually on large work stoppages. Here are the 16 major actions happened in 2021, and how they turned out.

U.S. strikes rare but increasing in 2021

The year 2021 had twice as many large work stoppages as 2020, but still far fewer than in the teachers-union-led strike surge of 2018-2019.

Wages jumped in 2021, but inflation jumped higher

Wages for U.S. workers rose 4.5% in 2021, the fastest in 13 years. The biggest were in “leisure and hospitality” where wages jumped 14%.

Unions drop back to 10.3% of workforce

Last year’s jump in the percentage of workers who are union-represented appears to have been related to COVID.

2021 in labor

The year 2021 in labor: A strike wave, eye-popping wage gains in bargaining, statehouse victories. And polls say unions are popular again.

Nurse union warns staffing shortage is at crisis levels

In one survey by Oregon Nurses Association, 60% of nurses said they're considering leaving the profession.

Poll: Union approval at its highest level since 1965

In the latest Gallup poll results, 68% of Americans said they approve of unions, 28% disapprove, and 4% had no opinion.

As the nation reeled, CEO pay rose

CEO pay increased an incredible $712,720 last year on average among S&P 500 companies, according to the latest annual report by the AFL-CIO.

July 1, the day ‘Free trade’ died

ITC says 40 years of trade deals didn’t help much. Our assessment: They accelerated the loss of American manufacturing.

Strikes disappear again in 2020

It looks like the 2018-2019 strike surge was a blip, not the start of a new trend. Last year there were just 8 strikes of over 1,000 workers.

Unions in 2020: membership is down, but share of workforce is up

Union members continue to out-earn nonunion workers—19.4% more, on average. And Oregon now ties with California as the 7th most unionized.

2020 in review

As chronicled in the Northwest Labor Press, here are some of the year’s most important developments for organized labor and working people.

A labor movement look at the 2020 election results

How labor-backed candidates and ballot measures fared locally and nationwide.

Gallup poll shows public approval of unions growing

This year, 65% of respondents said they approve, tying with 2003 and 1999 as the highest levels in the last 53 years.

Nationwide strike wave continued in 2019

The strike wave that began in 2018 continued in 2019, according to the annual work stoppages report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Union membership continues decline

Union membership dropped in 2019 to 14,574,000, down 170,000 (0.2%) from 2018, according to the latest annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...

2019 in review

As chronicled in the Northwest Labor Press, here are some of the year’s most important developments for labor and working people.

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