Labor Day: End of Summer, Beginning of College Football, and Last but Not Least, the American Worker

Labor Day marks the end of summer, and the beginning of college football. Despite high gas prices and unemployment rates, over 34 million Americans were expected to travel this Labor Day weekend taking trips of at least 50 miles.[1] And tonight's game featuring No. 3 Boise State and No. 10 Virginia Tech, marking the end of the Labor Day college football season openers will be watched by millions. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we forgot about the American Worker.

Originally, Labor Day was commemorated by street parades celebrating "'the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations' of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families."[2] For 14.9 million[3]Americans and their families, celebrations, if any, will be accompanied by the reality of the 9.6% unemployment rate. Since the recession began in December 2007, many people have burned through their savings and retirement accounts. And although the idea of extending unemployment benefits beyond the 4th tier was thrown around, Democrats decided to cautiously avoid fighting for an extension, afraid of taking on Republicans who have likened unemployment benefits to welfare.

Before the recession, the national unemployment rate was only 5%. So in honor of Labor Day, we must ask ourselves with an unemployment rate of almost 10%, how are Americans surviving?

Moving Back in with Family: Adult children are moving back in with their parents, and parents are moving back in with their adult children. In some households, 3 generations of families are living together in cramped arrangements to cut back on housing expenses.

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: People are borrowing money from family and friends to cover necessary bills and put food on their tables. But at the end of the day, the bills keep piling up and they are still in debt.

Food Stamps: With unemployment rates hovering at a 27 year high, it should come as no surprise that the number of people receiving Food Stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) has rose by 18% from a year earlier to 41.3 million as of June 2010.[4]

Part Time Gigs: People are working multiple part time jobs just to make ends meet, yet they are still underemployed. According to a Gallop poll, nearly 20% of Americans are underemployed, meaning they are unemployed or working part time and would like to work full time.[5]

For those who are unemployed, how are you surviving? Or if you have family and friends who are unemployed, what are you doing to help them survive? With so many unemployed Americans, renaming the holiday to "Laborless Day" may be more appropriate.

[1] Larry Copeland and Paul Overberg , "Labor Day holiday travel should be up from last year", USAToday.com, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-02-labor-day-weekend-holiday-travel_N.htm (accessed September 6, 2010)

[2] U.S. Department of Labor, "The History of Labor Day," DOL.gov, http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm (accessed September 6, 2010).

[3] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "The Employment Situation - August 2010", news release, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm, September 3, 2010 (accessed September 6, 2010).

[4] Alan Bjerga, "Food-Stamp Recipients Climb to Record With Jobless Rate at 27-Year High", Bloomberg.com, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-02/food-stamp-recipients-climb-to-record-with-jobless-rate-at-27-year-high.html (accessed September 6, 2010)

[5] Dennis Jacobe, "U.S. Underemployment at 18.3% in Mid-August", Gallup.com, http://www.gallup.com/poll/142169/underemployment-mid-august.aspx (accessed September 6, 2010)