September 2 – “The State of Working America”; “Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?”; Women Hold Up Half The World, but Not in Corporate America

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with this Labor Day weekend’s celebrations and examine the state of working America with the author of the annual report by that name that is considered the authoritative text on the American workforce. Lawrence Mishel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute and principal author of “The State of Working America” joins us to discuss his latest report “A Decade of Flat Wages: The Key Barrier to Shared Prosperity and a Rising Middle Class”.

Part 2

Then we speak with Matthew O’Brien, an associate editor at The Atlantic where he covers business and economics. We discuss his article at The Atlantic “Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?” and profile the four million people who are the long-term unemployed, Americans who can’t find work for six months or more, who tend to be more educated but a little older and can’t even get companies to look at their resumes anymore.

Part 3

Then finally we examine the status of women in the labor force with Heidi Hartmann, the President of the Washington-based Institute for Women’s Policy Research and discuss the paradox that women are now the primary breadwinners in almost half of America’s households, but at the top, in the boardrooms of corporate America, the glass ceiling is firmly intact.