This morning, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is testifying before the House Education and Labor Committee on her first year at the DOL and the Obama administration's priorities in 2010. After eight years of the GOP undermining the Labor Department during the Bush Administration, it is so good to hear our Labor Secretary speak out on how she and the Dept. of Labor plan to actively work to improve the lives of American workers...instead of just looking out for CEOs and corporate interests. (Ahem, Elaine Chao...)

Note this excerpt from Solis's testimony, where she endorses good union jobs, and restates her unequivocal endorsement for the Employee Free Choice Act.

In order to rebuild the middle class, we need to level the playing field and restore fair play for all working people. The growing inequality in wages and benefits is partially due to the increasing obstacles workers face in forming unions and engaging in collective bargaining. We need to restore their freedom to do so. This is why the President and I support the Employee Free Choice Act.

I know from personal experience that union jobs are good jobs, pay higher wages than non-union jobs, and provide flexibility and benefits like paid leave, child care, education assistance, and retirement security. This legislation can help give workers a voice in the workplace.

Secretary Solis outlined several key priorities for the DOL in 2010, which include:

1. Cracking down on the number of employers who repeatedly violate minimum wage, overtime, and workplace safety laws.
2. Greatly increasing the opportunities and investment in training workers in new and better jobs--including green jobs.
3. A jobs bill to put people back to work and create more jobs that includes incentives to businesses to hire new workers and raise wages, as well as investments in infrastructure projects and a clean energy economy.

Read the testimony Secretary Solis gave before the House Education and Labor Committee, after the break.

(Photo above courtesy of the House Committee on Education and Labor on Flickr via Creative Commons)

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Today, the Department of Labor government reported that weekly unemployment claims rose to 434,000--bringing total unemployment claims to record levels reaching 10.4 million this month. On Friday, when the Department of Labor will release its monthly employment report, the jobless rate is expected to rise slightly to 10.1 percent, after reaching 10 percent in November.

While there's no sugar-coating the fact that the U.S. has lost more than 7 million jobs since the recession began in November 2007, respected (and often-cited) economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com forecasts that the Recovery Act will add 2.5 million more jobs to the economy by the end of 2010 than would have existed without it. Looking at 2010 and beyond, Harvard University labor economist Lawrence Katz predicts that our economy will create 15 million new jobs over the next ten years.

The question then that arises is, what will these jobs be? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this is the list of the top 10 fastest-growing occupations they predict will supply the greatest number of new jobs over the next decade:

1. Registered nurses
2. Home health aides
3. Customer service representatives
4. Food preparation and serving workers
5. Personal and home care aides
6. Retail salespersons
7. Office clerks
8. Accountants
9. Nursing aides, orderlies and attendants
10. Post-secondary teachers

On what this future job market will look like, NPR noted:

Six of the top seven fastest-growing occupations are low-skill, low-wage jobs.

Katz says the challenge is to move those jobs up the skills ladder. There's no reason, he says, that home health care workers couldn't be better educated to provide patients with greater value and, as a result, command higher wages to improve their own living standards.

In line with Katz's comments, SEIU's 9-point jobs plan includes expanding worker training programs on a national scale, so that young people are prepared for new industries and workers can the learn skills necessary to compete for new jobs.

The fastest-growing job sector is BY FAR the service sector (which includes health care), which is expected to produce 96 percent of all new jobs in the next 10 years. BLS is projecting that under the broader umbrella of service occupations, the health care sector will be a leader in producing new jobs--4 million of them. For example, total employment of nursing/home health aides--who provide health-related care at home or in institutions for the ill, injured, disabled, or elderly--is projected to increase by 50 percent in the next decade.

Although nobody's job is 100 percent secure, there are certain professions that have proven to be more resistant in recessions. Read about these jobs here.

SEIU has sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, expressing deep concerns about the Department's recently announced decision to send I-9 audit notices to 1,000 additional employers--notices that are off target because they will result in the dismissal of thousands of workers but will let the worst employers off the hook.

SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement:

"DHS' plan to audit 1,000 new employers may sound tough--but the words ring hollow because the plan is not smart, targeted or effective.

Based on its previous announcements, we had expected DHS to target egregious employers and criminals who break labor laws, but instead these seemingly arbitrary audits actually benefit abusive, off-the-books employers who push down wages and working conditions for all workers.

The resulting churning of the workforce is harmful to local economies and communities.

It is demoralizing to the workforce that remains in the affected workplaces, but gets us no closer to fixing our broken immigration system.

America deserves an enforcement program with real teeth that punishes the most abusive employers--not the hard-working immigrants they exploit.

To accomplish this, SEIU urges DHS to coordinate all workplace enforcement with the Department of Labor so it can effectively target and punish employers who intentionally take advantage of our broken system to exploit their workers--both legal and undocumented--by illegally paying workers off the books, harassing them, and forcing them to work in abusive and unhealthful conditions.

By failing to coordinate its workplace enforcement with Department of Labor, DHS is missing a critical opportunity to reduce and deter some of the most egregious employment practices. Targeting these bad actors would actually curb the behavior and deincentivize the practice of intentionally hiring unauthorized workers.

America needs an enforcement program that differs in substance, not just form, from the failures of the Bush administration. We need a program with real teeth to punish the most abusive employers--not just the hardworking immigrants they are exploiting.

We need a modern enforcement system that is part of a broader strategy to lift wages and standards for all workers. Until then, the Department of Homeland Security is just playing a losing game of musical chairs.

» Read SEIU's letter to the Department of Homeland Security: "Enforcement Strategy is More of the Same"

Since the economy has started tanking, we have seen an exponential increase in wage theft. A prime example of this would be corporate giant Wal-Mart, who agreed last December to pay more than $352 million to settle 63 lawsuits over off the clock work and failing to give required breaks.

Even the Economic Policy Foundation--a business-funded think tank--has estimated that companies annually steal $19 billion in unpaid overtime. It's slightly encouraging that corporate giants like Wal-Mart have taken action to correct the problem of unpaid wages. But it's evident tougher enforcement is needed by the federal Department of Labor to stop companies that continue the shameful, illegal practice of wage theft around the country.

Thankfully, Labor Secretary Solis is coming out swinging on this front, making good on her promise earlier this year to improve the Wage and Hour Division at the DOL. On the the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft (yesterday), Solis announced she's increasing staff by one-third, hiring an additional 250 new wage and hour investigators to look into unpaid wage claims and undertake more targeted enforcement. There will also be a new public awareness campaign launched in 2010 called "We Can Help" to inform workers about their rights.

This vital information will help workers across the country like Frimo Cupidon, a security officer in Massachusetts who was required to perform more than 40 hours of unpaid work when she applied for a job with Andrews International. "They made us sit through five full days of so-called training for no pay whatsoever," said Cupidon. "People were so desperate for a job that they did it, but it is not fair."

In the aftermath of the Bush administration's inadequately handled Wage and Hour Division, which had been starved of staff and resources, it's nice to have Labor Secretary Solis on our side.

Congratulations are in order for Michael Kerr, who was sworn in today as Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at the Department of Labor.

This will be Kerr's second tour at Labor, as he previously spent eight years in the Clinton administration, eventually running the department's Wage and Hour Division. Before his DOL nomination and confirmation, Kerr oversaw Finance and Administration at SEIU as an Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer. He also spent several years at AFSCME earlier in his career.

Labor Day is a time to reflect on the achievements of the American worker and our nation's commitment to helping all families pursue the American Dream--especially now that many are facing difficult times, as the result of the recession and the anti-worker agenda carried out by the previous administration. In a short period of time, President Obama and the 111th Congress have made progress to undo many policies that have harmed our nation's workers; showing time and time again that they stand on the side of working families.

Here are some of the strides made so far on behalf of American workers:

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: The first major piece of legislation President Obama signed at the end of January ensures that women and other workers who receive discriminatory pay have access to a remedy. The new law reversed the May 2007 Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear and restored prior law which treated each discriminatory paycheck received by a worker as a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Affordable Health Coverage for Laid-off Workers: A provision in the Recovery Act will assist 7 million people laid off in this recession with the cost of their health insurance coverage, who would otherwise face paying a substantial monthly amount to keep it. People who were laid off between from their jobs between 9/1/08 and 12/31/09 pay only 35 percent of their COBRA premiums and the remaining 65 percent is reimbursed to the coverage provider through a tax credit.

Increasing the Minimum Wage: On July 24th, the national minimum wage increased by 70 cents per hour--from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour-the final of three increases to take effect under legislation enacted by the Democratic Congress. "[The] minimum wage increase is an important step in strengthening our economy by putting $1,400 a year in the pockets of 13 million hardworking Americans who make the Federal minimum wage," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

Increasing Wage Theft Enforcement: As a result increased funding in the Recovery Act, the Department of Labor announced that the agency plans on hiring 250 investigators for its Wage and Hour Division. A Government Accountability Office investigation found many investigations of wage theft, in which workers are not paid minimum wages or not paid at all, were inadequately handled by the Bush administration's Wage and Hour Division, which had been starved of staff and resources.

Worker Protection Programs: In December 2008, the American Worker Project at the Center for American Progress released a report noting that "one of the hallmarks of President George W. Bush's administration has been its failure to enforce laws designed to protect ordinary Americans," particularly the Labor Department's "inadequate enforcement of important workplace protections." The Obama administration has pushed to clean up the mess, requesting a 10 percent budget increase for worker protection programs.

Stopping Last-Minute Bush Proposal to Weaken Worker Health & Safety Protections: The Department of Labor announced that they will withdraw a Bush era proposal that would have dramatically weakened future workplace health and safety regulations and slow their enactment. (Announced May 15, 2009)

Can you think of any Congressional accomplishments made on behalf of workers that I've left off this list? If so, please leave your feedback in the "Comments" section below.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor formally made good on a promise to kill a proposal introduced by President Bush in his final days of administration that would have made it more difficult for the government to write new worker protection rules. OMB Watchreports that the controversial proposal was, essentially, "an attempt to regulate regulations" by creating an "additional mandatory step to an already complicated rulemaking process."

The so-called risk assessment proposal would have weakened and delayed the development of standards to protect workers from occupational hazards, including making it harder to prove the level of risk workers face when exposed to toxins on the job. The Labor Department issued a notice calling the proposed rule "unnecessary." Democratic lawmakers are applauding the move, saying it would have "dramatically weakened future workplace health and safety regulations and slow[ed] their enactment."

Rulings such as this one by the DOL and Secretary Solis make me grateful that we no longer have a Labor Secretary whose main agenda is not about workers and protecting their rights, but instead, making sure labor rights don't stand in the way of economic interests. Hopefully moving forward, we'll be seeing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) taking initiative and issuing new health-protective regulations to protect workers from toxic substances. More details on this dodged-bullet at The Pump Handle.

In yesterday's "Fair Pay for Caregivers," the New York Times editorial team urged the Department of Labor to change the regulation within the Fair Labor Standards Act that classifies home care workers as "companions," making them exempt from minimum wage protections and overtime pay. Citing the hard work and critical role they play with an aging boomer population, the NY Times editorial declares that "Home care aides should not have to wait any longer for the fair pay they have been denied for so long."

It's been over two years since the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the 1974 interpretation of the FLSA law ("Long Island Care at Home v. Coke"), denying home care workers a living wage and overtime compensation. That definition of the law essentially put the teenager who occasionally watches your kids on the same level with a worker trained to provide full-time and long term care for seniors and disabled persons with essential care needs. Under a new administration, this ruling did give the Labor Department--not the court--the right to change that interpretation under a new administration. However, more than two years later, the regulation still stands.

Sadly, one of the women who played a leading role in the fight for increased wages and paid overtime for in-home care aides, Mrs. Evelyn Coke, passed away today. Ms. Coke was the plaintiff in the "Long Island Care at Home v. Coke" case challenging the "companionship exemption" for home care workers. Read more about Mrs. Coke in the New York Times article highlighting her struggle for justice and a fair wage.

Support to extend federal overtime and minimum-wage requirements to home care workers--a growing labor force that earns average hourly wages lower than that of all other jobs in healthcare--has been increased in recent months. In June, a group of 15 Senators led by Senator Harkins (D-IA) sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis advocating for the Department of Labor to expand federal wage and hour laws to the estimated 1.5 million home care workers in the U.S.

"In the three decades since the exemption was created, the numbers of home care workers and their responsibilities have expanded dramatically as the population has aged and more and more people are choosing long-term care services in their homes rather than in institution," reads the letter sent to the DOL.

Secretary Solis responded with a statement saying she shares the concerns of the Senators who are advocating for fair treatment of home care workers, telling an AP reporter that her department was looking into whether the exemption should be overturned. Since that time, no real steps have been taken towards the federal reform that is urgently needed to provide home care workers with the compensation and respect they deserve. Please ask Department of Labor Secretary Solis to include home care workers in the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act

A group of 15 Senators led by Senator Harkins (D-IA) have sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, urging the Department of Labor to expand federal wage and hour laws to an estimated 1.5 million home care workers in the U.S., one of the fastest-growing professions in the country today.

In-home care providers belong to a growing labor force that earns average hourly wages lower than that of all other jobs in healthcare. These front-line caregivers also lack employment security, healthcare benefits, or even workers' compensation.

When the Department of Labor (DOL) amended the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1974 to cover domestic workers, it was to address concerns that wage and overtime protections would be extendeded to "companionship services" provided by teenagers, family members or friends on an occasional or informal basis [example: babysitters].

In reality, the FLSA has been anything but fair when it comes to home care workers. In the summer of 2007, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the 1974 interpretation of the FLSA law ("Long Island Care at Home v. Coke"), which excludes home care workers. The Court's decision to deny home care workers a living wage and overtime compensation by upholding the "companionship exemption" essentially put the teenager who occasionally watches your kids on the same level with a worker trained to provide full-time and long-term care for seniors and disabled persons with essential care needs.

However, this 2007 court ruling also gives the agency -- under a new administration -- the right to change that interpretation. "[...] A professional caretaker is simply not the type of informal and casual relationship that Congress sought to exempt," reads the letter to the DOL.

"In the three decades since the exemption was created, the numbers of home care workers and their responsibilities have expanded dramatically as the population has aged and more and more people are choosing long-term care services in their homes rather than in institutions. Home care, increasingly, has become not casual work performed by a friend or family member but a full-time regular type of employment.

"It is critical that these professional workers, who provide essential services to our nation's elderly and disabled, have the same right to minimum wage and overtime pay as enjoyed by other workers."

SEIU, as part of a coalition that aims to shave $2 million in healthcare spending by implementing changes to care delivery in the long term care field, sent a letter to the Obama administration last week recommending cost savings by expanding home- and community-based services. Secretary Solis said on Friday that she shares the concerns of the Senators who are advocating for fair treatment of home care workers. "As secretary of labor, I intend to fulfill the department's mandate to protect America's workers, including home health care aides, who work demanding work schedules and receive low wages," Solis said.

The number of workers who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time last week fell unexpectedly---a possible sign that job losses in the U.S. could be moderating. It's the 4th straight week that jobless claims have fallen, as the Department of Labor reported today that first-time jobless claims decreased by 34,000 to 601,000, which was smaller than most economists had been anticipating.

The jobs outlook may plummet again tomorrow, as the government's release on the unemployment rate for April is expected to reveal a rise to 9.0 percent, from 8.5 percent in March. But for today, let's focus on the hope that this week's lower jobless claims could mean companies are beginning to slow the pace they are laying off employees.

* More on today's jobless numbers at UPI and Bloomberg.

Last week, President Obama announced SEIU's Michael Kerr as his nominee for Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM) with the Department of Labor.

Kerr, who currently oversees finance and administration at SEIU as an Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer, has served under two presidents.

Economists were already braced for bad news in this morning's December 2008 employment report from the Department of Labor, but the numbers released were even worse than expected:

• The economy lost 524,000 jobs in December.
• The number of jobs lost in October and November was revised upward by 150,000 jobs--November's job losses, previously reported as a 533,000 loss, were revised to show a cut of 584,000. October's losses were revised to 423,000 from a decline of 320,000.
• From September through December nearly 2 million jobs were lost (1.934 million)
• The unemployment rate is 7.2 percent, the highest level since January 1993.
• An alternative measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but are discouraged from looking for work, and people who are working part-time but want to work full-time, is at 13.5 percent.  (so, more than one in eight people are either unemployed or underemployed).
  

There were job losses in every single month in 2008, with December's job loss numbers bringing the yearly total to a whopping 2.6 million. That's the biggest annual loss since the World War II era, when the nation experienced a 2.75 million drop in 1945.

The largest number of job losses in December was in services-providing businesses, which shed 273,000 jobs. The dismal December 2008 job losses picture spans across every sector, with 149,000 jobs lost in manufacturing, 101,000 in construction, and 113,000 in professional and business services. The retail sector shed 67,000 jobs. The few areas of growth were in education and health care, which added 45,000 jobs in December, and government, which added 7,000 jobs.

More than 1.1 million Americans are out of work, and expectations now are that the unemployment rate will reach 9 percent or more. Compounding an already-bleak situation for these millions of unemployed Americans is that fewer than half currently receive unemployment benefits, either because they work part time or because outdated regulations don't define them as having been working recently.

In response the severity of the unemployment situation facing so many Americans, President-elect Barack Obama has is advocating for a major expansion of government-assisted health care insurance and unemployment benefits. The WSJ reported on Wednesday that Obama plans to offer states $7 billion as incentive to permanently change their unemployment-insurance laws to cover part-time workers. In his speech yesterday at George Mason University, Mr. Obama said that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would "immediately jump-start job creation and long-term growth."

SEIU's two million members couldn't agree more with the urgency reinforced Obama in his address that Congress must act now to address this crisis and relieve the pain for working families before a bad situation becomes dramatically worse. "If Congress needed just three weeks to pass a Wall Street bailout, then we should be able to count on our leaders to pass Main Street relief with as much urgency," said SEIU President Andy Stern.

A new state-by-state effort to ensure passage of the economic recovery package was launched by SEIU this week. More details about the Change That Works campaign efforts here.