That's the unemployment rate in New York City right now, having jumped 1% in one month thanks to the AIGs and Lehman's free falling :

The city’s unemployment rate increased nearly one percentage point last month, indicating that Wall Street’s woes are starting to take their toll on the local economy. At 5.8%, New York City’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is still below the national average of 6.1%, but that gap is steadily closing.

The adjusted rate, which only accounts for people actively seeking work, made its largest monthly jump in at least three decades by increasing from 5% in July. It is up from 5.3% in August 2007.

The number of people collecting unemployment, considered by some to be a more accurate picture of economic hardship, totaled 74,795 in August, up 5.7% from 70,700 in July and up 18.2% over 63,298 in August 2007.

Here. Shed a tear for the Yankees before I start ranting about them.

This from Newsday, Balking at stadium deal:

The New York City Industrial Development Agency and state Assemb. Richard Brodsky agree on little when it comes to the new Yankee Stadium deal. Here's where they differ:

Luxury suite: City officials say the luxury suite at the new stadium has been cited in public records since 2006, specifically the lease agreement between the Yankees and the development authority. Brodsky claims it was "secretly acquired" and he only discovered it this summer after a public hearing. The box seats about 12 people and was envisioned for the use of the mayor to entertain dignitaries and reward city employees for exemplary service. City officials also have the right to purchase 180 seats at face value before they go on sale.

Jobs: NYCIDA has stated that more than 900 part-time workers will be the equivalent of an additional 550 to 770 full-time workers at the stadium. Brodsky has said the NYCIDA's records show an additional 15 full-time workers.

Threat to leave: When citing its reasons for allowing public-backed financing of the stadium, the NYCIDA cited the likelihood the Yankees would "relocate outside the city" if a new stadium deal wasn't struck. Brodsky said an investigation by his oversight committee found no evidence of a Yankee threat to leave. The closest thing to a fresh threat to leave were 1993 news clippings supplied by the NYCIDA in which such threats were discussed, Brodsky said.

NYC is going to get rimmed by this Wall Street bailout. There's no other way to describe this. We not only lost something in the order of 30 to 40 billion dollars in bonuses ALONE, we've lost over 11,000 jobs since the Lehman meltdown.

Keeping employers from using their leverage over the lives of employees to lock unions out of most work places is a key benefit of "neutrality agreements." Whether unions win and workers join union is a vital question in a number of ways.

I’ve written here and here about the attempts of union to organize unorganized workers using “neutrality agreements” in which employers agree to not campaign against unionization.

As Ed Ott, NYC Central Labor Council Director, said at Demos while ago, unions are the engine for helping lower income people to financial security. This was shown to be true recently in an interesting study by the Center for Economic & Policy Research . The study by John Schmitt compared the wages of unionized with non-unionized workers. Union workers make more (yawn?) But a surprising finding – low-wage union workers make much more – 20% more than non-union workers. (Hat tip to Jonathan Tasini for finding this first, by the way).

In addition strong unions help further the progressive agenda in other ways: unions campaign for affordable housing, for education funding and fair tax. The last 7 & ½ years of Mr. Bush’s class war on low and moderate income people harmed all of us: less money for affordable housing, education, higher gas & food prices and stagnating wages and of course, no start on sustainable energy policy. No matter who’s elected president, the struggle to reverse the impacts of the years of Bush looting will require serious struggle. Strong unions would be helpful in that effort and yet –as Andy McDonald of the Service Workers International Union (SEIU) pointed out -- 7 ½ % of private-sector workers are represented by unions; 92 ½ % are not. .

A great terror faced by employees every day is getting fired. In these tough times, employees are being cleared away like fallen leaves. Those of us who work without the protection of a union (almost all of us) are subject to a (in my opinion, pernicious) legal doctrine: employment-at-will which says —more or less – that the boss can fire any of us for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all. (In theory, there are limits: age for discrimination, for example, is forbidden; but boy is it hard to prove!)

In my experience, the boss’s freedom to fire workers at whim is the most cherished of prerogatives (But see Ellen Dannin’s post arguing that bosses would be better off without it ). Although the ACLU is against it, the employment at will doctrine is alive and well especially here in New York.

Tuesday’s paean in praise of Jacob Riis’ photography (google images of his work here , wiki article here)and 1880’s discovery of How The Other Half Lives, was given contemporary life by the report of NYS’s Labor Department which has discovered that employers are unlawfully exploiting their workers by not paying them, by paying less than minimum wage, by not paying disability and unemployment compensation etc. Ms.M. Patricia Smith, the Labor Commissioner, who set a bold course as chief of the AG’s Labor Bureau, continues to light fires. “I wouldn’t doubt that 10 percent of the state’s workers are either misclassified as independent contractors or work off the books,” Ms. Smith said. (Jonathon Tasini’s take here )

I see illegal employment everywhere: construction workers, off-the-books domestic workers, delivery people and supermarket baggers. They are working without fair pay in every neighborhood. Have you ever seen any? Will it come as a shock to you that many of those victimized are men and women of color?