By: Cheryl Corley

November 20, 2009

The country's spiraling unemployment rate is taking a particular toll on men as the recession continues to roil male-dominated industries, such as manufacturing and construction.

By: Christine Dugas

November 19, 2009

Staci Schubert's career has taken her from New York to California, from graphic designer to website designer to sales executive.

By: David Streitfeld

November 19, 2009

The economy and the stock market may be recovering from their swoon, but more homeowners than ever are having trouble making their monthly mortgage payments, according to figures released Thursday.

November 20, 2009

CFED (Corporation for Enterprise Development), a long-time partner of NeighborWorks America, celebrated its 30th anniversary with an Innovation Summit and a Gala in Washington, DC, with hundreds in attendance.

By: Susanne Craig and Scott Patterson

November 18, 2009

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it is launching a $500 million small-business assistance program that includes an advisory panel with billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

November 18, 2009

At least one in two children in 17 small counties in the United States are living in poverty, according to a U.S. Census survey measuring income and poverty in small areas and school districts.

By: LaToya M. Smith

November 16, 2009

There may be grants to help you buy your home--if you know where to look

By: William Schweke

November 18, 2009

The Obama Administration already has a remarkably full plate -- health care reform, cap-and-trade climate legislation, financial regulation, immigration policy, et cetera, et cetera. And that's just on the domestic policy front.

November 17, 2009

With job recovery nowhere in sight, financial assets decline along with economic mobility

Waltham, MA--Today the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University's Heller School released a new research and policy brief which reports that four in ten U.S. families lack sufficient assets to pay for essential expenses in the face of unemployment.

IASP created a new approach to measuring asset poverty that includes unemployment benefits and compares families' asset holding to their ability to pay for essential household expenses and also to invest in future opportunities for mobility, such as a home purchase, business start-up, retraining, or education.

The IASP research and policy brief also shows that less than half of all U.S. families have sufficient savings to address essential expenses and invest in opportunities for mobility when faced with a job loss. Moreover, many more households of color lack the financial assets to meet their expenses during periods of unemployment. Sixty-six percent of African American and Latino households are not asset secure, and only 20 percent of households of color have financial assets to invest in opportunities for mobility. While most American families lack sufficient wealth to invest in education, housing, business ventures, or training for better jobs, the dramatic distance that marks families of color is a reflection of the profound, deep, and systematic racial wealth gap.

"The wealth gains of families of color over the past two decades are being savaged by the Great Recession, illustrating the persistence of the racial wealth gap in the U.S.," said Thomas Shapiro, IASP Director and co-author of the report.

Unemployment rates topping 10 percent are the highest in 26 years. Families are working more hours and taking on more part-time jobs. At the same time, unemployment benefits are running out for many families. Faced with the worst recession since the Great Depression, many U.S. families have no choice but to draw on inadequate savings to pay for essential household expenses. Many of these families are at risk of losing their housing. They may also cut back on food and healthcare to make ends meet.

"This timely and incisive report documents the lack of financial capacity of families to weather tough times. In this financial crisis, millions of American families have used up their nest-eggs, with job and wage recovery nowhere in sight," said Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect, a Senior Fellow at Demos, a nonpartisan public policy and advocacy organization, and Author of "Obama's Challenge."

"Now, more than ever, Tom Shapiro, Melvin Oliver and Tatjana Meschede, turn our attention toward what it will take to make America again, the land of opportunity," Said Bob Friedman, Chair, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED).

By: Mike Snyder

November 16, 2009

Residents of mobile home park band together to buy the land they live on

By: Alan Berube, Karen Dynan and Ted Gayer

November 15, 2009

The economy's expansion last quarter, for the first time in more than a year, has prompted much speculation that the recession is over.

By: Joseph Gyourko

November 15, 2009

Even as we wade through the wreckage of the housing collapse, Americans remain a staunchly house-proud people.

By: Traci Bruckner

November 11, 2009

USDA recently awarded 29 grants for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) - a competitive grants program designed to support collaborative networks and partnerships that provide beginning farmers and ranchers with education, training and mentoring.

By: Veronica Flores-Paniagua

November 14, 2009

As host city for this year's National League of Cities conference, San Antonio trotted out significant public projects. Among them: Voelcker Park, the San Antonio River's Museum Reach and Haven for Hope.

Personal Savings Need a Boost

November 10, 2009

The following information was released by Syracuse University:

America's days of economic dominance are numbered because we don't save. The government is borrowing like crazy, and households aren't doing much better. The personal savings rate -- the share of after-tax income that people set aside for a rainy day -- has been falling like a stone since the early 1980s.