Statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that the number of chronically homeless people living in the nation's streets and shelters reached 123,833 in 2007. About 1.6 million people experienced homelessness and found shelter between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007 (The New York Times, July 30, 2008). The number of requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008 (World Journal, October 22, 2008). In Louisiana and Kentucky, the number of homeless families increased to 931. In December 2008, 19 of the 25 American cities surveyed reported some kind of increase in homelessness between October 1, 2007 and October 30, 2008. And 16 cities reported an increase in family homelessness (Advocacy Groups Fear New Wave of Homeless, http://ipsnews.net). The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless estimated that more than 6,000 people were homeless in the District on an average day. Among them, 47 percent were "chronically homeless" (District agrees on homeless shelter access; Faces $5 million cost, The Washington Times, December 13, 2008).
The rights of laborers are not properly protected. The unemployment rate in America keeps high. Statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor on January 9, 2009 showed that the unemployment rate increased from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 5.8 percent in 2008, the highest since 2003. A total of 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, the biggest loss since 1945. In December 2008 alone, 524,000 jobs were lost, driving the unemployment rate to a 16-year-high of 7.2 percent (The New York Times, January 10,2009). The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) reached 2.2 million in November, up by 822,000 over the past 12 months (Employment Summary, http://data.bls.gov). According to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive, the median time Americans spent working in 2008, which included housekeeping and studying, was 46 hours, which was one hour more than that of 2007. One in every four Americans said their working hours increased in 2008. The median time Americans spent playing in 2008 was 16 hours, a decline of four hours from a year ago and the lowest since 1973 (Agence France Presse, December 10, 2008). A survey of day-laborer sites in 25 states found that half of all workers had been underpaid or not paid at least once (The Washington Post, July 8, 2008). In July 2008, a Minnesota court ruled Wal-Mart Stores Inc violated state wage and hour laws, failing to give workers their full rest breaks and requiring hourly employees to work off-the-clock during training (The China Press, December 10, 2008). On July 23, 2008, New York's State Labor Department said a clothes factory called "Jin Shun" in Queens was found to have cheated its workers of 5.3 million U.S. dollars in the past six years by paying them salaries far below the minimum wage and not paying for overtime work (World Journal, July 24, 2008). On September 6, about 27,000 machinists in Boeing went on strike, requiring the company to raise their salaries and welfares (http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid-7600000). On October 20, U.S. District Court in Manhattan of New York ordered Saigon Grill Restaurant to compensate 4.6 million U.S. dollars to 36 delivery workers for violations of minimum wage and overtime laws (The China Press, December 23, 2008).
Employees' pension plans shrank considerably. A senior budget analyst with the U.S. Congress estimated in October 2008 that Americans' pension accounts lost 2 trillion U.S. dollars in the past 15 months. More than half the people surveyed in an Associated Press-GfK poll said they would have to delay their retirement. A survey conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) released in October 2008 said one out of five Americans above the age of 45 stopped putting money into a 401(k), IRA (Individual Retirement Account) or other retirement account (The China Press, October 8, 2008). A study by Hewitt Associates found the average U.S. 401(k) plan balance was down 14 percent in 2008 to 68,000 U.S. dollars from 79,000 U.S. dollars in 2007. 401(k) refers to a section of the U.S. Tax Code that allows retirement plan investors to defer paying taxes (The China Press, November 25, 2008).