Rising Unemployment Rates Rock Working-Class Families

With over 533,000 jobs lost in November alone, leaving our nation with 10.3 million people currently out of work, working-class families across the country are struggling to hold on. As more families find one or more income contributors without a job, a new reality sets in--one without health insurance, already tight budgets cut even further, and dreams of college-educations and brighter futures pushed even further out of reach.

With particular focus paid to Wisconsin, we can see a state that has been plagued by factory shut-downs over the past several years. A shifting economy has forced manufacturing workers from their long-term jobs in union companies to newer factories that offer a substantial pay cut in exchange for no union protection, horribly unsafe working conditions, and no job security. An entire generation of working-class children have grown up in this shifting economy. As they look ahead to their futures, a fortunate handful enter college, with an even smaller percentage actually obtaining a bachelor's degree. Most of these children enter the workforce alongside their parents, except their generation faces an even bleaker future.

This generation has learned the same lessons that their parents learned--it is the role of the children of workers to grow up and take the place of their parents. Though working-class families work tirelessly to offer their children generational improvement and more options than they had, these efforts are difficult to fulfill, particularly in the current economic situation. The latest round of lay-offs is rocking Wisconsin families to their core.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its biannual report, Measuring Up 2008: The State Report Card on Higher Education, which gave the University of Wisconsin System an F in affordability. The eye-opening data that finally reflected the lived reality of many working-class and poor Wisconsin families. The average working-class and low-income Wisconsin family spends 44% of their annual income on higher education. As Wisconsin loses more jobs, it becomes glaringly obvious that lower-income families cannot go on paying such a large percentage of their annual income for higher education.

It is time that working-class and low-income Wisconsin families come together and stand up for themselves. Too often our elected officials promise to address our concerns, but fail to come through for us. It often feels that we can't do anything to fix the mess around us, but we can and we must stand up for other working families.

• We must demand increased access and affordability in our public higher education system, as well as support for local workers who have lost their jobs, which can be done by calling our local representatives and Governor Doyle.
• We must support the work that students are doing in the UW System to demand a quality, affordable education. Madison's Working Class Student Union is a good place to start.
• We must support the workers at Chicago's Republic Window & Glass who have taken over their factory as they struggle against its closure, and for the right to their jobs and health care. Read more information about the strike and sign the petition in support of the workers.

Though the months ahead of us will be trying as we struggle to provide for our families and survive our current economic situation, it is crucial that we remember one thing: we are not alone! There are thousands of other families around the state and hundreds of thousands around this nation that are going through similar situations. It is our support of one another that makes us powerful.