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President Trump called last night for “one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.” He has proposed increasing the military budget by $54 billion—a proposal that would require great sacrifice from working people in the form of cuts to vital health care, education and environmental services.

Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration apparently believe that extremely basic workplace protections are too onerous to ask U.S. businesses to uphold.

Today is Equal Pay Day. Counting from January, the average woman has just earned as much as the average man did by December 31. In other words, it took her 15 months to earn what the average man earned in 12.

I think a state-level proposal of guaranteeing and enforcing that people who are imprisoned are paid at least the minimum wage deserves real scrutiny

Despite important advances with ballot initiatives and the rise of the powerful Fight for $15 movement, there is still progress to be made on raising the minimum wage. 

Underlying much of the conversation about basic income is an effort to respond to the changing structure of the economy and the labor market.

The nation is experiencing a crisis of care. Across the country, parents are trapped in an economic bind without paid leave or affordable child care, even as older Americans and people with disabilities contend with their own unmet needs for care. At the same time, we face a desperate need for good jobs. While unemployment has fallen, millions of working people still struggle to make ends meet with low wages, precarious work schedules, and a lack of basic benefits and job security.

The top three economic issues for young people are debt-free public college, paid family and medical leave and a higher minimum wage (followed closely by affordable childcare). 

In almost every Nissan auto plant across the world, workers are represented by a union. One exception is the facility in Canton, Mississippi.

A higher minimum wage was ranked as a top priority for working-class black and Latino voters, as well as white working-class Obama-to-Trump voters.

The Trump administration is getting ready to give working Americans a big pay cut.

How would guaranteeing all working people in Philadelphia the right to earn paid sick leave impact the city's economy?

The human reasons to ensure that all working Philadelphians are able to care for themselves and their ill loved ones are tremendously compelling.

But a national debt of more than $14 trillion makes us vulnerable because our economy is the wellspring of our military might, as well as the happiness and self-confidence of a fully employed people.

The unemployment rate underestimates the problem of joblessness.This underestimation is very significant for African American workers.

We all have to grow up, whether we want to or not. The Toys 'R' Us announcement that it is closing its U.S. stores should be a pivotal moment in the maturation of how we as a nation think about wealth and debt, and the rules that make it possible for companies and communities to be resilient.

Family comes first. That means all families should have access to affordable and high-quality choices for their children’s early care and education.

By eliminating employment credit checks, the bill would remove an unfair and discriminatory barrier to economic mobility and security.

While the attention of Connecticut's legislature has been occupied by the recent budget battles, an even larger crisis has been brewing: retirement security.

Every single working day of the year, American women pay a 22.6 percent gender tax on their income.  By gender tax, I mean a negative transfer imposed upon women’s wages which reduces the wealth they control and increases the amount of time they work. Feminists know the gender tax as the pay gap (in 2010, the median full-time, year-round woman earned $10,784 less than her male counterpart) as well as Equal Pay Day (to earn his income of $47,715, she had to work until April 17, 2011—an extra 15 weeks on the job).

In the latest unfortunate news at the intersection of motherhood and politics, stay-at-home moms are doing worse emotionally than their working counterparts.