Labor

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Dabura Karriem, 60, of Bloomfield, N.J., learns of the availability of a bank file-clerk job, the type of position she has been looking for, at a career fair in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010. Ms. Karriem was laid off two years ago -- the first time she's been unemployed in 38 years -- and her unemployment benefits have expired. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS D.C. United defender Dejan Jakovic, left, battles for the ball with Philadelphia Union midfielder Eduardo Coudet, right, during the first half of their MLS soccer game at RFK Stadium in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 22, 2010. DC United defeated the Union 2-0.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS LOOKING FOR A 'FRESH START': House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, speaks about jobs and the economy at the City Club of Cleveland.

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Pedestrians walk past a sign in the window of the Chicago Workforce Center in Chicago instructing people how to file for unemployment insurance benefits online, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010. The center offers employment assistance for job seekers. Employers appear to be laying off workers again as the economic recovery weakens. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, talks with employees before announcing the social network site's new localization services called "Places" during a press conference in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

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Foxconn workers shout slogans during a rally to raise morale at the heavily regimented factories inside the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, south China, Guangdong province, Wednesday August 18, 2010. Following a string of suicides at its Chinese factories, Foxconn Technology Group raised workers' wages and installed safety nets on buildings to catch would-be jumpers. Now the often secretive manufacturer of the iPhone and other electronics is holding rallies for its workers to raise morale at the heavily regimented factories. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

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Ryan Turner works at a new home under construction in Springfield, Ill., on June 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)

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Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (AP Photo)

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A Haitian child holds a Dominican Republic peso as he begs with other children in the street. The country's economic status has brought many Haitian children to the Dominican Republic, where some can earn up to $14 a day — nearly three times Haiti's minimum wage.

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Rod Thorn, left, is seen along with Comcast-Spectacor president Peter Luukko, center, and Philadelphia 76ers general manager Ed Stefanski, during a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010. The 76ers have hired Thorn as the basketball team president. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, gives pens used to sign the bill to area children during a ceremony Tuesday after she signed a $26 billion jobs bill to protect 300,000 teachers and other nonfederal government workers from election-year layoffs.

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President Barack Obama, followed by teachers and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, walks to the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010, to urge the House to pass legislation that could help keep 160,000 educators on the job. From left are: Shannon Lewis, of Romney, W. Va., who was a special education instructor who lost her job in June when her position was cut due to lack of funding, Duncan, and Rachel Martin who taught kindergarten in Richton Park, Ill. until she was laid off in March. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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President Barack Obama, accompanied by teachers, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010, to urge the House to pass legislation that could help keep 160,000 educators on the job. From left are: Shannon Lewis, of Romney, W. Va., who was a special education instructor who lost her job in June when her position was cut due to lack of funding, Duncan, the president, and Rachel Martin who taught kindergarten in Richton Park, Ill. until she was laid off in March. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Dave Ebersbach at his home Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Ebersbach, 43, is one of 14 math teachers in the Toledo, Ohio, school district to receive notice a few weeks ago that their jobs were cut. Congress is moving rapidly just weeks before the start of the school year to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of reversing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers. (AP Photo/J.D. Pooley)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Dan Coats, Republican nominee for U.S. Senate (right center), speaks with health care professionals during a roundtable discussion on health care at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis on Tuesday.

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Lam Poh grabs sticks as he stacks fresh cut boards at Patenaude Lumber Co. in Henniker , N.H., Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010. The main saw at the mill is only running three days a week, and the staff of 30 is cut in half to plane and stack wood the other two days. The Labor Department said Friday that companies added a net total of 71,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS In this July 28, 2010 photo, a pickup truck carries a large sign that reads " Vote Aug. 3 Yes Prop C " outside a rally and fundraiser for supporters of a ballot measure to block the new federal health insurance law in St. Charles, Mo. Missouri will become the first state to the test the popularity of President Barack Obama's top policy accomplishment with a statewide ballot proposal attempting to reject its core mandate that most Americans have health insurance.

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"Milwaukee Iron" has been a fixture for more than a century, but the city's last signature brand may be riding off into the sunset and taking 1,630 manufacturing jobs with it. (Associated Press)

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** In this 2010 file photo, Denver public schools' food-service employees participate in a competition at the Bruce Randolph School. (Associated Press)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010, to discuss a bill that would cover more health care costs and fund more state and local government jobs. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)