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The federal minimum wage -- $5.15 an hour -- has not changed since 1997. Since then, minimum-wage earners have lost 17 percent of their purchasing power to inflation. Supporters of increasing the rate say it would lift many Americans out of poverty, but business groups say an increase would hurt the working poor because it would cause companies to lay off low-wage workers. In any case, they say, many minimum-wage earners are middle-class teens earning pocket money, not poor adults. Attempts in Congress to raise the minimum wage failed this year, but perennial sponsor Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., says he will try again next year. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., now have higher minimum wages than the federal level, and 130 cities and counties have so-called living-wage laws requiring public contractors to pay significantly higher wages. Nevada and Florida recently passed minimum-wage ballot initiatives, and more state battles are looming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American labor movement suffered a major blow at its 50th-anniversary convention in Chicago in July. The beleaguered AFL-CIO split nearly in half as seven unions formed the rival Change to Win coalition. The seceding unions argued that the AFL-CIO, led by John Sweeney, had been spending too much time and money trying to get Democrats elected to national office and not enough time recruiting new members. The defections reflect the concern over declining union membership in recent years, due in part to automation and job outsourcing. Some 3 million U.S. factory jobs alone were lost between 2000 and 2003. As he starts a new term, Sweeney confronts the possibility of more defections, businesses that are aggressively anti-union and unafraid to move operations abroad and a younger generation that knows little about unions. The split also raises questions for the Democrats, who historically derived funding and votes from the labor movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and 1,400 more arrive every day. Once concentrated in a few big states like Texas and California, they are rapidly moving into non-traditional areas such as the Midwest and South. Willing to work for low wages, the migrants are creating a backlash among some residents of the new states, which have seen a nearly tenfold increase in illegal immigration since 1990. While illegal immigrants only make up about 5 percent of the U.S. work force, critics of the nation's immigration policies say illegal immigrants take Americans' jobs, threaten national security and even change the nation's culture by refusing to assimilate. But immigrants' advocates say illegal migrants fill the jobs Americans refuse to take and generally boost the economy. Proposals to deal with illegal immigration include the Real ID bill, which would block states from issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, and "guest worker" programs granting temporary legal status to illegal workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wealth has become more concentrated in the United States, with the top 1 percent of households now commanding a bigger share of the nation's prosperity than at any time since the 1920s. Average middle-class family incomes, meanwhile, have been mostly stagnant for more than 30 years. As the gap between the rich and everyone else grows wider, some sociologists and economists worry that the "Horatio Alger" dream of economic success through hard work and merit is dead and that getting ahead now depends mostly on your family's affluence, education and social connections. Others say living standards are rising for nearly everyone, newcomers still can find their fortunes here and middle-class Americans live better than their parents did. President Bush, meanwhile, is encouraging wealth creation, but critics say his "ownership society" proposals pose greater economic risks and won't help spread the nation's good fortune to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much as they did 100 years ago, farmworkers today still face "back-breaking jobs with impossibly long hours for skinflint wages in filthy conditions," as a newspaper editorial described it. Wages have not kept pace with inflation, and in some labor camps, living conditions range from the deplorable to the unconscionable. Some farm bosses even have been convicted in recent years of enslaving workers, most of whom are illegal aliens afraid to speak out for fear of deportation. Human-rights advocates say the only way to improve conditions is to give undocumented workers legal residency. But opponents say that would reward illegals for breaking U.S. immigration laws and ultimately spark more illegal immigration. Meanwhile, many state and federal laws protecting workers go unenforced, and growers say Americans increasingly do not want to do farm work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Security has provided a guaranteed income for retirees, widows and disabled individuals for almost 70 years. But unless changes are made to the taxpayer-funded system, Social Security will begin paying more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes in about 15 years. That's when the retirement of millions of baby-boom workers will overwhelm the system's pay-as-you-go funding mechanism. Moreover, by 2052, the program's trillion-dollar trust fund is expected to run dry. Experts continue to debate the seriousness of the program's problems and the best way to strengthen it. Three years ago, President Bush called for bolstering Social Security funding by allowing workers to invest part of their payroll contributions in personal investment accounts. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry opposes privatization. Regardless of who wins this fall's presidential election, Social Security reform is likely to figure high on the legislative agenda next year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

America is teeming with Wal-Marts, Home Depots and other "big-box" chain stores — some larger than five football fields. Millions of consumers like the low prices, free parking and one-stop shopping convenience offered by the megastores, while policymakers say the stores create jobs, enable customers to save money for other expenditures and pump much-needed tax dollars into community coffers. But critics say big-box stores actually harm local economies and flourish only because they receive public subsidies, pay low salaries and benefits and utilize unethical and possibly illegal practices to drive smaller, locally owned competitors out of business. Critics also say they cause added traffic congestion and suburban sprawl, force U.S. companies to ship high-paying manufacturing jobs overseas and cost more in local services than the taxes they generate. Communities increasingly are passing special ordinances to keep the big retailers out, but the chains are fighting back, saying they are simply giving consumers what they want. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. economy is recovering, but employment continues to lag. Experts blame some of the joblessness on the job-exporting phenomenon known as offshoring. Well-trained, low-wage workers in India, China and other developing countries make exporting American jobs attractive, along with the widespread availability of high-speed Internet connections. In addition, millions of foreign professionals have entered the U.S. work force using temporary visas, while millions more undocumented foreign workers from Mexico and Latin America have found low-wage jobs in the U.S. thanks to lax immigration and border-control policies. Offshoring proponents say paying lower wages reduces the cost of goods and raises profits, ultimately enabling U.S. companies to create better-paying jobs for Americans. Critics say offshoring simply eliminates good jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting scandals at Enron and other large corporations rocked the financial world a few years ago. Now new problems are shaking up the stock market. The $7 trillion mutual fund industry is reeling from revelations that fund managers engaged in unethical trading practices to benefit themselves and a few select clients. Meanwhile, questions about the integrity of governance at the fabled New York Stock Exchange -- the world's largest stock market -- have led to new leadership and sweeping structural changes. But some analysts contend that the actions taken don't go far enough to protect investors. Others say recent market gains show that the corrective actions are working and that investors retain their faith in the overall integrity of the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Bush is proposing a $674 billion plan to boost the economy centered around eliminating the taxes investors pay on corporate dividends. Bush's plan also would speed up tax cuts for high-income Americans due to take effect in 2004 and 2006. Democrats are offering rival stimulus plans that cost less — around $100 billion — and provide more relief for average taxpayers. The Democrats also propose helping fiscally strapped states and extending unemployment benefits. Meanwhile, some experts say the economy is already turning around and that new tax cuts would only worsen long-term fiscal problems, now that budget deficits have returned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the collapse of corporate giants Enron and WorldCom, a federal crackdown on corporate fraud led to a steady parade of handcuffed, high-profile executives in front of TV cameras. In addition, executives once considered the darlings of Wall Street, including entertainment entrepreneur Martha Stewart, have been linked to possible insider trading or money-laundering. Despite the lurid headlines and dramatic "perp walks" on the nightly news, some experts question whether corporate crime is actually on the increase. Others say it is growing and that only stiffer penalties for white-collar crime, such as those contained in legislation passed in July, will halt the questionable practices. Still others suggest that civil litigation, regulatory reform and changes in corporate governance are the best ways to control wrongdoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Baltimore became the first U.S. city to adopt a so-called living-wage ordinance in 1994, nearly 100 cities and counties have mandated wage floors above the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum. Relatively few workers take home bigger paychecks — perhaps 100,000 of the nation's 134 million workers. Moreover, living-wage ordinances are banned in one state, and others may follow suit. While the living-wage trend is still gaining momentum, economists disagree whether the pay increases are overshadowed by reductions in the number of jobs. Meanwhile, living-wage campaigns are active in more than 100 cities, including Santa Monica, Calif., where voters will decide in November on a $10.50 beachfront minimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike previous recessions, in which blue-collar workers bore the brunt of unemployment, the current downturn has left white-collar workers out in the cold as well. Large corporations, once the guarantors of job security, are eliminating jobs at all levels in an effort to raise productivity. While corporate restructuring may enable U.S. firms to better compete in the global marketplace, it also foreshadows a fundamental change in employer-employee relations: Growing numbers of Americans will be forced into part-time work with low pay, no job security and few benefits. The keys to success in this less predictable workplace will be education, training and a willingness to alter career goals. Above all, experts caution, employees should not expect lifelong employment with a single company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American shoppers may not know it, but many of the name-brand products they purchase - from clothing to carpets to sports equipment - were made under appalling circumstances. Grim reports of worker exploitation contain images straight out of a Charles Dickens novel: children kidnapped and sold into prostitution, or toiling at age four in hazardous worksites alongside adults struggling for subsistence- level wages. Though the bulk of the abuse takes place in Third World countries, Americans were stunned by the recent discovery of virtual slave-labor conditions in garment sweatshops in California and New York City. Now a growing movement of U.S. and international officials, union and business leaders, human rights activists and celebrities has mobilized to challenge these deep-rooted practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional sports have grown too big for the sports pages. With the 107 franchises in pro baseball, basketball, football and hockey worth a combined $11.4 billion, sports developments also receive detailed coverage in the nation's business and financial press. Moreover, conflicts between team owners and players have made sports law an increasingly attractive specialty for attorneys. The recently ended National Hockey League lockout and the ongoing major-league baseball strike are only the latest in a long string of similar collective-bargaining showdowns. Sports fans, meanwhile, complain of neglect by both players and management. However, recent public opinion polls and the full houses that greeted the belated start of the hockey season suggest fans are eager to forgive and forget, as they have always done in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States was built on a dream of ever-increasing prosperity, but that dream is being supplanted by the specter of downward mobility. After two decades of sluggish economic growth, hundreds of thousands of Americans have found themselves sliding down the economic ladder. Plant closings have wiped out blue-collar jobs. Corporate "downsizing" has thrown white-collar workers into the job market. And employers are making growing use of "contingent workers" who get lower pay and benefits than full-time employees. Some observers say the generation entering the work force today may never equal the standard of living their parents achieved. The financial impact of downward mobility can be severe, but the psychological effects can be even more devastating. And those scars may last long after the U.S. economy gets back on track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, nearly 60 percent of the nation's labor force are women or minorities, yet white males still hold most of the top jobs in corporations, labor unions, universities and other institutions. Some say it's because women and minorities have not been in the labor pipeline long enough to have reached the top spots, or because women drop in and out of the work force to have babies or take care of small children. But study after study has documented artificial, and often unseen, barriers to advancement by women and minorities. Advocates are calling on companies and other institutions to dismantle those barriers, and for government to help. Increasingly, it's being seen not only as a question of social justice, but business efficiency: America will need all its talent to compete in a global marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the premium society puts on a college education, four out of five high school graduates do not get a college degree. For millions of young Americans, this can mean a future of dead-end jobs. A movement is growing to create a school-to-work transition system centered around the centuries-old concept of apprenticeship. As early as the 10th grade, students would combine academics with on-the-job training as a way to meet today's growing demand for a literate, "high-performance" work force. The idea is so newa consensus has yet to emerge on how to go about it. But business executives and government officials agree thatthe future of the U.S. work force may depend on somesuch action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]