Tuesday, July 30, 2024

[NJFAC] Inequality and its impact on climate, child poverty, democracy

The Spirit Level at 15 Income Inequality July 22, 2024

In 2009, the bestselling and award winning book, The Spirit Level, sounded the alarm on the corrosive effects of economic injustice. At a time when only a few academics were exploring this issue, the book provided a comprehensive analysis linking the negative effects of inequality to a wide range of social ills – from higher rates of imprisonment and mental health issues to eroded trust within society. It revolutionised the way we looked at, measured and understood the impacts of inequality.

Authors Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Kate Pickett, along with the Equality Trust, have released an update which revisits its original research with new data and analyses. It introduces two new indices, and expands on the original Spirit Level to offer updated data on a total of 27 newly analysed dimensions. It underscores how inequality harms us all and lies at the root of our escalating environmental, health and social crises. Its message is a rallying cry to reject the false narratives that have justified inaction, and to boldly confront systemic inequalities.

The Spirit Level at 15 shows for the first time how greater income inequality is particularly bad for the climate. It finds that nations with high levels of equality have the greatest focus on reducing carbon emissions, while the richest 10% of the population are responsible for more than half of all global emissions. It shows how inequality impacts every aspect of society, including our economy, highlighting that the UK's record on child poverty in recent years is not an aberration, but what is expected in a country this unequal.....

Findings on democracy and trust underline warning signs from the general election: inequality dramatically lowers trust, social cohesion, and levels of democracy. The rise of the far right and collapsing trust in democratic institutions across the world has gone hand-in-hand with exploding wealth and power for the ultra-rich. This should worry us all. ....

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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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Tuesday, July 16, 2024

[NJFAC] A New Era of Endless Labor Shortages?


Article by Thomas Ferguson and Servaas Storm

The McKinsey report's highlighting of an extremely high job vacancy ratio in recent years does not reflect the true state of the U.S. labor market.

Excerpt:

"Every so often a publication comes along that more or less perfectly captures the Zeitgeist of world business elites. So it was on the 26th of June when the McKinsey Global Institute issued a new report: "Help Wanted: Charting the Challenge of Tight Labor Markets in Advanced Economies."

The message its few pages of charts and text deliver is dire indeed: "Labor markets in advanced economies today are among the tightest in two decades, not merely a pandemic-induced blip but rather a long-term trend that may continue as workforces age."

However, "There is no doubt that the rise in the job vacancy ratio is spurious, i.e., not related to real labor-market tightness, but instead most likely caused by a sharp increase in manipulative job postings."


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June Zaccone
National Jobs for All Network
http://www.njfac.org

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