Employment

Southern California’s “Southwestern Shifts” coverage touched on employment challenges in California and Nevada, but other reporting also incorporated issues about the economic downturn on joblessness.

• Rise and Fall of Service Unions in California: A Timeline

  The Service Employees International Union breathed new life into a rapidly decaying labor movement through bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into the movement. Follow the rise and the ‘on hold’ nature of the labor movement in California.

• Recession's Impact on California Entrepreneurship
  Tim Kane, senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, talks about what the impact of the recession means for California’s competitiveness as a center of entrepreneurship.
• Nevada: Battered by a Perfect Storm
  In a state that bet its entire social service infrastructure on booming population growth and seemingly unending tourism, an economic perfect storm annihilated what were once the holy trinity of Nevada tax revenue streams: property, sales, and gaming.

  Even as population growth held steady at 6 percent annually for a decade and fueled unprecedented prosperity, Nevada’s long and storied addiction to its narrow tax base leaves social services scraping by and keeps the creation of a true safety net as an afterthought.

• The Significance of SEIU

  This is a timeline of the Service Employees International Union in California.

• State of the Union: California Labor Wars
  After decades of break-neck growth, California’s two million-member Service Employees International Union is facing a crisis brought on by a debilitating recession. This package explores the present crises strangling the labor movement and its deleterious effects on working people in California. It includes audio, text stories, a timeline, photos and videos.
• The New Town Square
  Explore with resident from three Northern California towns as they struggle to define community in an increasingly suburbanized landscape. This short introductory video blends old techniques (stop motion animation) with the digital platform. Other elements in the package include an interactive map illustrating how these three towns have grown and changed over the last century, and a series of maps where residents describe the places where they find their community.

• Careers: A Diverse Generation Explores its Choices

  “What do we want to do when we grow up? Oh, wait, that’s now! ” This project explores how young people use technology and creativity to start their careers, even in tough economic times.

• Crossing Lines: Staring Down Death in the Desert
  Crossing Lines is a three-part narrative that tells the stories of people in Mexico who are trying to build their own economic opportunities so their children won’t feel compelled to leave. Photos and video are imbedded in the text to add to the narrative at key points.
• The Detour Years:
  A series of podcasts explores less-traditional post-college experiences like moving to a small Texas artists’ enclave, joining VISTA and taking an extended road trip. Photos, audio.