Northwest Labor Press is an independent union-supported newspaper founded in 1900. Our print version is mailed twice a month to about 45,000 members of over three dozen local unions in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Our online version has been maintained here since 1997.
Tag:
Bureau of Labor Statistics
National
Is inflation back?
The inflation rate reached 4.2% for May, the highest since April 2023, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report.
Analysis
Unions are back up to 10% of U.S. workforce
The annual numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are up just a bit from the historic low of 9.9% the year before.
Analysis
Union members have superior benefits
BLS data shows union employees are more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and retirement benefits than non-union workers.
National
Bad news? Fire the messenger
Trump’s own appointee says trashing BLS economic data could have harmful results.
Analysis
Fewer strikes in 2024
Major work stoppages were down in 2024, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but still more than any year between 2001 and 2018.
Analysis
Union membership down again in 2024
The U.S. union membership rate is now 9.9%, and just 5.9% for private sector workers, according to the latest annual BLS report.
Worker safety
Workers killed on the job
An estimated 5,283 U.S. workers died of injuries on the job in 2023, according to the latest report by the BLS, released Dec. 19.
Worker safety
The 10 most dangerous jobs
Vehicle accidents and falls caused more than half of on-the-job deaths in 2022. Here are the jobs with the highest rates of fatal injuries.
Analysis
U.S. union membership hits new low: 10.0%
That’s down just a hair from 2022, when it was 10.1% according to the most recent annual report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
National
Big strikes creep up again in 2022
At least 23 major work stoppages broke out last year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Feb. 22—up from 16 the previous year.
National
Unemployment at its lowest in 50 years
In a Feb. 3 report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the United State gained 517,000 jobs in January.
Analysis
Union membership continues fall as percentage of U.S. workforce
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 10.1% of U.S. workers were union members in 2022, the lowest level on record.
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.
Worker safety
Top on-the-job killers
Transportation-related accidents are the lead cause of workplace death— more fatalities than falls, violence and harmful substances combined.
Worker safety
America’s most dangerous jobs
Most on-the-job deaths occur in the trucking industry, but a handful of workplaces have a higher fatality rate.
Analysis
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.
Analysis
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.
Analysis
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.
Analysis
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%.
Analysis
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.
