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As the kids head back to school, a new analysis shows that school buildings are less ready to receive them than in the past. Get the fact at a glance in this week's Economic Snapshot.

As he accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday night, Sen. Barack Obama forcefully outlined the failures of trickle-down economics and the need to return to an approach of shared responsibility and prosperity. His analysis echoed the work of EPI economists, who have long been tracking the negative outcomes of the on-your-own philosophy -- including growing income inequality, stagnant wages, and heightened risks for workers -- and proposing policy solutions.

Released in time for Labor Day, the advanced edition of EPI's authoritative volume The State of Working America 2008/2009 is now available. Described as the "most comprehensive independent analysis of the U.S. labor market" by the Financial Times, the 11th edition shows that the business cycle that started in 2001 will be one for the record books. For the first time on record, middle-class families are at the end of a recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the previous recession. Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible and went to the top-most sliver. Prepared biennially since 1988, The State of Working America scrutinizes family incomes, jobs, wages, unemployment, wealth, poverty, and health care coverage, describing the economy's effect on our nation's standard of living. Visit the State of Working America Web site now and in coming months to read the executive summary, introduction, select chapters, press releases, and other related material, as well as to order your copy of the advanced and final edition (to be released by ILR/Cornell University Press in January 2009).

New data allows for a clear comparison of how median income for working-age families in the 2000s stacks up to the last economic cycle. Get the facts at a glance in this week's Snapshot.

The U.S. Census Bureau's annual release of poverty, income, and health coverage held some good news for Americans, but drilling down below the surface reveals a continuing erosion of the economy for working people. Although median household income increased slightly and the poverty rate was essentially unchanged from 2006 to 2007, incomes for working families (as opposed to retirees) actually dropped. The drop was especially significant when compared to median income in 2000, which is a better comparison because--like 2007--it was the final year of a cycle of economic growth. Given current conditions, income levels will surely decline further in 2008. The biggest surprise of the release came in the area of health care coverage. The number of uninsured dropped slightly in 2007, but the decline was due to an increase in government-sponsored coverage for children. Meanwhile, the rate of employer-based insurance coverage continued its seven-year decline.

EPI puts the upcoming Census Bureau report into proper context in this special preview. We'll provide a full analysis in two new reports, when the new data is officially released on Aug. 26.

In this week's Economic Snapshot, education expert Joydeep Roy shows that high school girls are now earning just as many math credits as boys, on average. Not only that, girls have moved out in front in advanced courses like pre-calculus and calculus.

View "Toward Shared Prosperity," a video introduction to EPI's Agenda for Shared Prosperity.

On Labor Day, EPI will release its 11th edition in the flagship series The State of Working America. The 2008/2009 edition will cover all of the material you have come to expect from this pre-eminent examination of the U.S. labor market. In the spirit of the Olympic competition currently underway in Beijing, EPI is offering a sneak preview of the book by releasing the chapter comparing the United States' economic performance to that of 19 other industrialized countries. Check out the book's site to download a PDF of the international chapter and peruse links to other content from this series.

Do immigrants with H-2B work visas get paid a fair wage in the United States? This week's Snapshot explains the consequences for all workers, immigrant and native.

Will Social Security be around when I retire? Yes, and it will be paying even more than now, as explained in EPI's latest Issue Brief.

With grim economic news coming from many directions, it's easy to get discouraged about our ability to repair the damage of years of failed economic policies. And yet, there are pragmatic solutions to our biggest challenges, including ways to restore health care and retirement security, to create family-supporting jobs, and to reestablish a leadership role in the global economy. Collaborating with some of the nation's top progressive thinkers, EPI researchers have been exploring and refining solutions for the better part of two years. Now, just in time for national debates on economic direction, EPI has compiled the best of these proposals into a small, easy-to-read Policy Handbook called ''A Plan to Revive the American Economy.''

Read this week's Economic Snapshot to see how the 2000s business cycle failed to perform on the employment front.

For analysis of today's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, read EPI's Jobs Picture.

Read EPI's GDP Picture for analysis of today's Commerce Department report on gross domestic product (GDP).

Unbalanced U.S. trade with China since 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers. Between 2001 and 2007, the trade deficit lost or displaced 2.3 million jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. See the impact on states in today's Economic Snapshot.

Unbalanced U.S. trade with China since 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers. Between 2001 and 2007, the trade deficit lost or displaced 2.3 million jobs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. See the impact on states in today?s Economic Snapshot.

The second part of a multi-stage hike in the federal minimum wage takes effect July 24, raising the wage from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour. But many states and the District of Columbia are a step ahead of the federal government when it comes to guaranteeing a fair wage. This week's Economic Snapshot illustrates which states have a higher-than-federal minimum wage.

In testimony this morning before Congress's Joint Economic Committee, Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, examines the array of economic forces and events that are squeezing most working Americans' income and living standards, and suggests some policy fixes to help ease at least some of the pain. Bernstein makes a strong case for a second stimulus package, stressing state fiscal relief and public investment in needed infrastructure to help keep more Americans working and contributing to the economy through the downturn. He also advocates strengthening oversight of the financial sector to improve stability and provide long-term protection from the kinds of bubbles that have so buffeted the US economy in recent years.

Join E.J. Dionne, Jr., Diane Sosne, Paul Almeida, and David Kusnet on Thursday, July 31st, for a lively discussion at EPI about job dissatisfaction in the New Economy, and Kusnet's new book, Love the work, hate the job: Why America's best workers are unhappier than ever.