Labor

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Thousands of teachers rally for the second consecutive day outside the Chicago Board of Education headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Chicago. Teachers walked off the job Monday for the first time in 25 years over issues that include pay raises, classroom conditions, job security and teacher evaluations. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

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Carmen Brownlee (left) and Latonya Williams, parents of Chicago public school students, walk a picket line with striking teachers Tuesday. The teachers union said it had signed off on just six of 48 articles in the contract under negotiation. Issues in the bitter dispute include teacher evaluations and job security. (Associated Press)

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David John is a senior research fellow in retirement security and financial institutions at the Heritage Foundation (Heritage Foundation)

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** FILE ** In this Tuesday, July 17, 2012, file photo, business employment specialist Linda Reynolds, right, helps job searcher D'Andre Preston at WorkSource Oregon in Tualatin, Ore. U.S. employers posted fewer jobs in July than in June, the latest evidence that hiring is weak. Job openings fell to a seasonally adjusted 3.67 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That down from June's 3.72 million job openings, which was revised lower. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

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Thousands of public school teachers rally Sept. 10, 2012, outside the Chicago Public Schools district headquarters on the first day of strike action over teachers' contracts in Chicago. For the first time in a quarter century, Chicago teachers walked out of the classroom, taking a bitter contract dispute over evaluations and job security to the streets of the nation's third-largest city — and to a national audience — less than a week after most schools opened for fall. (Associated Press)

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Chicago teachers walk a picket line outside Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in Chicago on Sept. 10, 2012, after they went on strike for the first time in 25 years. Union and district officials failed to reach a contract agreement despite intense weekend negotiations. (Associated Press)

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Rep. Paul Ryan, whose Wisconsin district is home to many auto workers, backed a government loan program for auto companies to develop more fuel-efficient cars. (Associated Press)

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Judy Smith of Dalton, Ga., looks over paperwork as she files for unemployment for the first time since being laid off from a catering job. Though the unemployment rate dropped to 8.1 percent in August, pushed down by 368,000 dropping out of the labor force, job growth remains subpar and will not be enough to put millions back to work. (Associated Press)