 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
The Center for Working-Class Studies has just issued its quarterly report on the de facto unemployment rate. The current de facto rate remains relatively steady 26.37% up slightly from the April 2011 report at 26.26%
A new complicating factor mentioned in reporting the de facto rate is the increasing number of people that have given up looking for work and have chosen to take Social Security before reaching their retirement age. Also, there has been an increase in discouraged workers who have given up looking for work. These individuals are no longer counted as unemployed.
In addition to providing the de facto rate and how it was compiled, the new report also references a map of the geography of current recession/regional depression, and new this month, the civilian employment to popluation ration. This ratio is a measure of private sector job creation.
For more information about the defacto unemployment rate, contact John Russo at the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Steeltown Digital Library provides access to primary sources reflecting the history of the Mahoning Valley, including many of the sources discussed in Steeltown USA: Work and Memory in Youngstown. The site also offers lesson plans for using local history in middle and high school courses.
During the 2006-2007 academic year, Sherry Linkon and Alyssa Lenhoff coordinated a project to create an exhibit and report on how work is changing in the Mahoning Valley. "Worker Portraits: Faces of Strength" involved Youngstown State University (YSU) journalism students in writing profiles of individual workers, and CWCS affiliate Rosemary D'Apolito conducted research on demographic patterns. In April 2007, the resulting exhibit opened at the Youngstown Historical Center, featuring a dozen profiles, with beautiful photographs by Steve Cagan, and an accompanying booklet. The exhibit has been displayed at several locations around the Mahoning Valley.
These sites provide a wide range of resources -- bibliographies, lists of writers and works, links to texts, and collections of images, sound files, and documents.
Featured authors include Raymond Carver, Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, and John Steinbeck.
