BUSINESS BRIEFS
Data show 10% in U.S. are jobless or underemployed
Advertiser news services
NEW YORK — This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they've been in years, according to a scorecard released today by Rutgers University.
In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That's a nearly 25 percent increase from a year earlier.
Professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard, said a sharp decline in the number of Americans able to find full-time jobs, along with growing consumer debt and healthcare costs, were causes for concern.
"But there are some bright spots long-term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs, and more Americans who are completely satisfied with their jobs.
The scorecard, which doesn't assign grades but charts whether indicators are improving or getting worse, is based primarily on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
ADS TO CALL FOR ORGANIZING RIGHTS
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A labor advocacy group will begin airing $5 million worth of ads today on national cable and in targeted states to press for legislation that would allow workers to organize without secret ballot elections.
The ads by American Rights at Work do not name either presidential candidate, but the message of economic hardship dovetails with Democratic nominee Barack Obama's campaign themes. The national ads will appear on CNN, MSNBC and CNN Headline News.
American Rights at Work is a 501(c)3 organization. Its ads are issue-based and do not call for the election or defeat of a candidate.
The legislation, a top priority for organized labor, would require employers to recognize unions after being presented union cards signed by a majority of eligible workers on their payrolls. Under current labor law, a company can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the federal government after being presented the union cards.
JAPAN URGED TO END CHIP TARIFF
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea urged Japan yesterday to scrap punitive tariffs on computer memory chips made by Hynix Semiconductor Inc., saying it is considering taking retaliatory measures.
Japan has said that, pending Cabinet approval, it would reduce the 27.2 percent tariff it imposed on Hynix DRAM chips in 2006 to 9.1 percent, after the World Trade Organization ordered the duty be recalculated by today.
Japan's Cabinet approved the reduction last week. Hynix said the Japanese decision called for the lower tariff to remain in place until the end of 2010.
Hynix is the world's second-largest manufacturer of DRAMs, or dynamic random access memory chips.
The U.S., the EU and Japan have imposed duties on the chips because of what they called unfair South Korean government support for Hynix when it nearly collapsed twice under debt in 2001 and 2002.
DRAM chips are mostly used in personal computers.
BAN ON HONDURAN CANTALOUPES LIFTED
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran officials say the U.S. has lifted a more than five-month ban on cantaloupe imports from one of the country's biggest melon farmers.
Agriculture Minister Hector Hernandez says the Montelibano melon company was given the "green light" to resume melon exports to the U.S. following a salmonella scare.
He told Honduras' HRN radio yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the fruit after investigating Montelibano's crops and facilities and finding no evidence of contamination.
Some 75 percent of melons eaten in the U.S. come from Mexico and Central America.
