San José, CA – Thousands of University of California students and workers are currently on strike across the state. In late October, the United Auto Workers union which represents 48,000 academic workers, called a strike authorization vote. In a historic vote, 98% of the 36,558 people who participated voted yes to strike. This is the largest academic workers’ strike in the history of the country.

San José, CA – On Friday, November 4, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate in October rose from 3.7% from 3.5% in September. The increase was even larger for Asian Americans and Latinos, who saw their unemployment rates rise by 0.4%, twice the overall rise.

Inflation for workers still at 40-year highs

San José, CA – Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers or CPI-W has been rising this year at the fastest rate in 40 years. This high inflation continued in September, with prices measured by CPI-W up 8.5% over a year ago. Higher prices combined with fewer hours means that the purchasing power of average weekly earnings for workers fell 3.5% from a year earlier.

San José, CA – On Friday, October 7 the U.S. Department of Labor released their report on new jobs and the unemployment rate in September. According to the Department of Labor, there were 263,000 more jobs in September than in August. This is the weakest job report since December of 2020.

San José, CA – “No ban! No wall! Legalization for all!” was heard at San José City Hall as about 20 people showed up on Saturday, August 27, to protest the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court repealing DACA, which would affect nearly a million undocumented immigrants and their families in the United States.

San José, CA – On July 29, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released their report on Gross Domestic Product for the second quarter of the year, April to June. GDP went down at a 0.9% annual rate. This followed a decline of 1.6% in GDP in the first three months of the year.

Continuing claims hits highest number since November 2021

San José, CA – On Thursday, July 21, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of people collecting unemployment insurance benefits, increased by 51,000 for the week ending July 16. This brought the total number to 1,384,000, the highest since November 2021. New claims for unemployment insurance increased to 251,000, also the highest since November. The increase was only 7000 over the week before, but most economists had expected the number of new claims to fall.

San José, CA – Over the last two years, hundreds of thousands of Asian Americans and their supporters have taken to the streets to protest the wave of violence against Asian Americans. From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a Burmese family was assaulted in Texas; to the Atlanta Spa killing in April 2021, where six of the eight people killed were Asian American women, this wave of violence against Asian Americans inspired protests across the country, even including middle-school students.

San José, CA – Real earnings, or workers’ wages after adjusting for inflation, had their biggest drop in 40 years last month, as prices continued to rise faster than paychecks. Real average weekly earnings, which best reflect workers’ paychecks after adjusting for changes in wages, prices and hours worked, fell 1% in June of 2022 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over the last year, real average weekly earnings fell 3.9% as inflation outpaced pay raises and average weekly hours fell by almost an hour.

San José, CA – On the evening of the day of the SCOTUS decision overturning Roe v. Wade, June 24, about 400 people rallied at San José City Hall. The next day, Saturday, June 25, about 2500 people gathered at San José City Hall to march through downtown.

San José, CA – 40 years ago, on June 23, 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chin died after being beaten by a Chrysler plant supervisor and his stepson. They ended up being sentenced to a $3000 fine, causing an uproar in the Chinese American community. Evidently the killers thought that Chin was Japanese American and blamed him for the success of Japanese carmakers in breaking into the American car market. This racist killing was another of a long history of violence against Chinese and other Asian Americans.

San José, CA – With Bitcoin now down 70% from its record price in April of 2021, businesses based on cryptocurrencies have started to fold. The latest victim was Celsius, a crypto “bank” which stopped withdrawals from its accounts on Sunday, June 12. Celsius had more than $20 billion in assets at its peak in August 2021, drawing investors with yields of more than 18%. But Celsius is looking more and more like a high-tech Ponzi scheme that only lasted as long as new investors kept buying in.

Working households struggle as wages don’t keep up

San José, CA – On Friday, June 10, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices for workers’ families, the so-called Consumer Price Index-Wage or CPI-W rose by 9.3% as compared to prices a year ago. This rate of inflation is near a 40-year high, only exceeded by the 9.4% increase in March. The last time that prices rose so quickly was in November of 1981.

San José, CA – Gas stations, grocery stores and car dealers are not the only places people are facing sticker shock, as anyone looking to rent can tell you. Prices to rent an apartment are up around 20% over the last year.

San José, CA – On May 16, about 50 students gathered at the Olympic Black Power Statue, at San José State University, to rally in defense of Roe v. Wade.

San José, CA – On Monday, May 9, U.S. stock prices continued to fall, with the broadest index, the S&P 500, losing more than 3%. This is the biggest one-day drop in stock prices since the onset of COVID in the United States in early 2020. The S&P 500 has fallen 17% since hitting an all-time record high in late March. This is approaching the 20% drop that is labeled a “bear market.” Stock prices of high-tech companies have fallen even more, with the technology-heavy NASDAQ index already in bear market territory.

San Jose, CA – On May 1, about 400 people had gathered at Roosevelt Park in San Jose to celebrate International Workers Day. Many leftist organizations, trade unions, and grassroots organizations like Papeles Para Todos attended.

Biggest one-day drop since 2020

San José, CA – On Friday, April 22, U.S. stocks fell more than 2.5%, with the Dow Jones Industry Average, dropping almost 1000 points. This led to the third week of losses for U.S. stocks, as a combination of recession fears – based on slowing corporate sales and profits, combined with the reality of higher interest rates – influenced investors.

San José, CA – On Saturday, February 5, anti-war protesters gathered in front of San José’s City Hall to demand an end to imperial saber rattling in eastern Europe. Speakers from CODEPINK, Freedom Road Socialism (FRSO), National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the El Barrio Defense Committee gathered a crowd of 30 onlookers while calling for end to the war drive against Russia.

San José, CA – On Thursday, January 20, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of new claims for unemployment insurance rose for the second week in row, to more than 280,000 for the week of January 10-15. This is up almost 40% from the beginning of January. While much of this may be caused by the spike in COVID-19, there have been other signs of economic weakness that started to show up in December.