Labor Department

LOS ANGELES -- Raids by federal officials this week have turned up evidence that Asian organized crime rings may be bringing Asian and other foreign workers into Southern California illegally, specifically to work in sweatshops in the area's booming garment manufacturing industry.This is the second time in three weeks that such evidence has been turned up, government officials said. The raids, which were carried out on Wednesday by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, found 56 illegal immigrants at three sweatshops.

The increase in unemployment that's jeopardizing U.S. economic growth is being driven at least in part by a drop in the number of people working for themselves, government figures show. Hours worked by the self-employed dropped at a 15.5 percent annual pace in the last three months of 2007, the biggest decrease in 15 years, according to Labor Department data. The decline "is probably related to the housing downturn, since one in six workers in construction is self-employed, twice the average for all industries," said Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass.

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims unexpectedly fell last week, signaling that the U.S. job market may be strengthening heading into the new year. Initial jobless claims dropped 5,000 to 326,000 in the week that ended Dec. 25, the Labor Department said yesterday. An index of Chicago-area business fell for a second month, a sign of slower growth in manufacturing that prompted investors to push up U.S. Treasury note prices. The U.S. economy created more than 2 million jobs in 2004, the most since 1999.

The U.S. Labor Department has sued Towson-based Local 27 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, saying the incumbent management of the local failed to give ballots to all members during last year's disputed election of officers.The five-page complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, asks the court to throw out Tom Russow's re-election last October as president of the 26,000-member local.Mr. Russow won the election by 187 votes, said John Singleton, an attorney for Concerned Union Brothers and Sisters, sponsors of the dissident slate.

As a businessman I read The Sun to be informed and educated, not for snide and misinformed comments such as those in commentator Matt Patterson's piece on the nomination of Thomas Perez as labor secretary ("Why do we need a labor department?" March 22). It was difficult to determine whether the author meant to be taken seriously. To suggest that we don't need an agency to look out for the interests of workers, when their jobs have so often been shipped overseas and their salaries are stagnant at a time of record corporate profits that primarily benefit shareholders, is simply foolish.

The largest union local in Maryland -- the 26,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27 -- has agreed to hold a new, federally supervised election to settle allegations of ballot improprieties, union officials and dissidents said yesterday.The agreement, which awaits approval by the Labor Department and U.S. District Judge Frederic N. Smalkin, will end a 19-month legal battle and avert a trial over whether the Towson-based local improperlyfailed to mail 3,000 ballots in an October 1993 local election.

Federal regulators need to boost their oversight of 401(k) retirement plans and adopt a series of changes to ensure full disclosure of hidden costs that can cut into the savings of millions of American workers, a government report recommends. With companies abandoning traditional pensions, 401(k) plans have become a cornerstone of retirement security for an estimated 47 million people. Yet regulation and oversight have not kept pace, the recent report by the Government Accountability Office concluded.

U.S. Labor Department crackdowns on child labor violations and an expanding pool of unemployed older workers have caused many restaurants in Maryland and around the country to stop hiring youths under age 16.Meanwhile, child labor violations in the food service industry are likely to continue until antiquated federal laws are changed, restaurant operators admit.Under federal law, 14- and 15-year-olds can work only 18 hours a week and have to stop work at 7 p.m. -- the middle of the busy dinner period -- during the school year.

In a summer of laments about young people with $75,000 college degrees who are flipping burgers or digging ditches, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has some sobering findings: one of five college graduates in the 1980s had jobs that did not require college degrees. Many, though not all, of these jobs were low-wage, dead-end positions.Workers with bachelor of arts degrees did fare far better, on average, during those years than those without sheepskins.But while the pay of the typical B.A. rose handily during the decade, the incomes of the unfortunate fifth with non-professional jobs -- more than 5 million -- stagnated or even declined.

When Anthony Cosgrove left a job with a small Connecticut payroll company in 2005, he left his 401(k) retirement account behind to avoid a tax liability for a loan he had taken out against his savings. Soon after, the company, Abacus Payroll Systems Inc., went out of business and Cosgrove, 42, has been mired in red tape since, as authorities, including the Labor Department, sort through the mess. He wants his money, but can't get it. Abandoned plans represent a tiny percentage of all company benefit programs, but they serve as a cautionary tale for retirement savers because they can drag on for years while denying participants access to their savings.