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Tax brackets and why you shouldn't fear a raise

Sep 5, 2017
There's a whole lot of misinformation out there about how taxes are figured.
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When in prison, the costs are steep and the pay is close to nothing

Aug 21, 2017
Data compiled by the Prison Policy Initiative shows that the average incarcerated worker in state and federal prison now earns 86 cents per day, a 7 cent decrease from 2001 when inmates earned 93 cents for a day’s work.
A California State Prison-Solano inmate uses a hand tool to pack decomposed granite while installing a drought-tolerant garden in the prison yard in Vacaville, California. 
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Financial industry determined to kill the Fiduciary Duty Rule finds a profit line

Aug 11, 2017
Shouldn’t the person telling you what to do with your retirement accounts be legally required to act in your best interest? Sounds simple enough, but regulation to that affect has long been resisted by the financial industry. The Obama administration pushed for the so-called Fiduciary Duty Rule, but this week the Labor Department sought to […]

It might be a good time to ask for a raise

Aug 10, 2017
A tighter labor market could shift the balance of power from employers to employees.
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The best way to find a job might be to move

Aug 4, 2017
A Washington Post writer explains why job seekers are staying rooted in their communities.

Wanted: qualified people who will work for yesterday's wages

Aug 3, 2017
The tight labor market is making it harder to hire without raising pay significantly.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

If companies are having trouble hiring, why aren’t they paying more?

Jul 7, 2017
The June employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed strong job growth – 222,000 – and a 0.1 percent rise in the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent, as more job-seekers entered the labor force. But the rise in average hourly earnings was anemic—up 0.2 percent month over month, 2.5 percent year over year. […]

For public good, not for profit.

The Fed's labor market index aims to give a bigger picture of the economy

May 8, 2017
The Fed today publishes its Labor Market Conditions Index for the month of April. The release follows Friday’s news that the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4 percent last month, near a 10-year low. The index, which Janet Yellen started releasing publicly in 2014, goes further than just looking at the unemployment rate and payroll job […]

Three things we learned from the December jobs report

Jan 6, 2017
The economy added 156,000 jobs last month, a number shy of expectations.
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US economy adds 151,000 jobs in August

Sep 2, 2016
That number falls short of economists' expectations.
A job seeker fills out an application at a job fair in San Francisco, California.
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