But, for all the optimism and nostalgia for an America that once was, it’s worth asking whether factory jobs are more likely to help workers rise to the middle class today -- or leave them stranded among the working poor.

Elena Suarez was on her lunch break, taking a walk on the side of the road in the industrial park where she works, and eating a sandwich as she walked, when I stopped her to ask about her job. She’s a machine operator at Resonetics, a manufacturing company in Nashua, New Hampshire that specializes in precision laser micromachining for the medical device industry.

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A former unpaid intern is suing the legendary music label after claiming he was required to work full-time for eight months, sometimes up to 10 hours a day, without pay.

Justin Henry, a resident of Brooklyn who interned for Atlantic in 2007, primarily spent his days filing, faxing, answering phones and fetching lunch for paid employees, according to a proposed class-action complaint obtained by IBTimes.

Maurice Pianko, Henry’s lead attorney and founder of Intern Justice, said he expects the complaint to be filed early Monday in New York Supreme Court. Lloyd Ambinder, managing partner of Virginia & Ambinder, LLP, and Jeff Brown, senior partner of Leeds Brown Law P.C., are also attorneys for the plaintiff.

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"A recent report shows that in 40 percent of American families with children, women are the primary earners, yet they continue to earn less than men. What does this say about society?," asked pageant judge and "Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum during the question and answer segment.

The 21-year-old Salt Lake City native proceeded to answer the question with a rambling assessment of education and job creation in the United States, finally landing on: "I think, especially the men are ... seen as the leaders of this, and so we need to see how to … create education better. So that we can solve this problem. Thank you.”

She came in third place.

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The Living Hope Wheelchair Association in Houston was founded to help men with these injuries who have no workers’ compensation. They’re underfunded, barely getting by thanks to the donations of churchgoers and caregivers. A small group of volunteers help these men and women with their most basic needs. And they know how to stretch a dollar. With meager donations, they’re able to buy things like catheters and diapers the injured workers need on a daily basis. As one volunteer showed me their supply, which he was proud of, I couldn't help feeling sorry for them. These are the kinds of things people would rather not have to talk about even if they have to use them. What struck me hardest is the fact that these people are hidden. People don’t talk about them because they've been used and abused. “A democracy can’t survive very long when it throws away its workers,” the volunteer said with an almost revolutionary tone in his voice.

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After simulating an influenza epidemic in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas, researchers found that giving people paid sick days reduced workplace flu infection rates by nearly 6 percent. The team of epidemiologists also investigated what they termed "flu days," an alternative to comprehensive sick leave that allowed workers two paid days off to recover from the illness. One flu day resulted in a 25 percent decrease in infection trasmission; two paid days off resulted in more than a 40 percent decrease, according to the study.

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Just kidding! While things have improved significantly since 1963, women, on average, still make 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The numbers are even more dismal for black women and Latinas, who make 68 and 59 cents, respectively.

As E.J. Graff at the American Prospect notes, women's earnings have been stalled for close to 15 years now, leading many labor advocates and politicians to push for new legislation to keep chipping away at the gender wage gap. Namely, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which, among other provisions, would prevent employers from firing workers for comparing earnings -- a major barrier to investigating claims of wage discrimination.

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The ad features a woman in a strikingly similar pose and style of dress as "Rosie the Riveter," who was introduced through the Westinghouse Co.'s iconic 1942 poster about women's labor during World War II, and would come to symbolize women workers in traditionally male professions and serve as a rallying image for gender equality more broadly.

The ad has received its share of criticism on Twitter, with many bristling at the message behind putting a mop in the hands of a barrier-breaking symbol for women's work outside the home.

Quick note to Swiffer: If you want to appropriate a symbol for gender equality in an ad about household chores, try casting a man in it next time.

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Nearly 40 percent of these "breadwinner moms" are married mothers who have a higher income than their husbands; just over 60 percent are single mothers. The income gap between the two groups is considerable, according to Pew:

The median total family income of married mothers who earn more than their husbands was nearly $80,000 in 2011, well above the national median of $57,100 for all families with children, and nearly four times the $23,000 median for families led by a single mother.

Researchers also surveyed for attendant shifts in public opinion about gender roles and parenting as a growing number of working mothers support their families:

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While she is able to work almost year-round at the park, she says she is “the exception, one of the few.” Most concession workers are seasonal and while their hourly wages may be some of the highest in the country, the average pay is $11,000 a year, below the poverty line. Many of the concession workers live in low-income housing, they can travel up to two hours each direction in order to work an event, and they have multiple jobs to supplement their income. Their job with the Giants, though, gives them the healthcare insurance they otherwise would not have.

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The reason is simple. Any increase in the supply or job mobility of willing workers will tend to benefit Capital at the expense of Labor, stifling any growth in working-class wages, especially given our high unemployment rates. The last 40 years have seen a huge increase in immigration, and it is hardly coincidental that median American wages have been stagnant or declining throughout most of this same period. A large boost in the minimum wage, perhaps to $12 an hour or more, would be the best means of reversing our current economic race to the bottom.

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About the same time that man’s post showed up on the web, we saw the startling survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind polling organization, the one finding that nearly three in ten registered voters agree with the statement: “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.” Three out of ten! That includes 44 percent of Republicans, 27 percent of independents and 18 percent of Democrats.

That poll also noted that a quarter of Americans think that facts about the Newtown shootings “are being hidden,” and an additional 11 percent “are unsure.” As Sahil Kapur wrote at Talking Points Memo:

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“I just feel that if we don’t stand up now, it’s never going to happen,” said Tomecka Wilson, a 32-year-old who works for the seafood chain Captain D’s. “They’re making billions off of us making little to nothing. So they can afford to share a little bit more.”

Organizers expect 50 to 70 St. Louis workers to strike over the next 24 hours, including workers from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Hardee’s and Domino’s. The strike got an early start this morning, when a group of workers at a Jimmy John’s went out on strike in protest over alleged humiliation by management: They say their boss required them to wear signs stating that they worked too slowly. “It’s clearly getting national traction,” said Ed Ott, a lecturer in labor studies for the City University of New York, consultant for unions, and board member of New York Communities for Change, the group spearheading fast food organizing in the nation’s largest city. “This is potentially the largest organizing drive in decades.”

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In the past, his appeal would probably have fallen on deaf ears. But today, throughout the world, buyers in many industries have acknowledged a degree of responsibility for workplace conditions in supplier factories and pledged to ensure that the goods they eventually market are not made under abusive, dangerous, environmentally degrading, or otherwise unethical conditions. These businesses have committed to using private, voluntary regulation to address labor issues traditionally regulated by government or unions. And for the most part, the companies have acted on these commitments.

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Major clothing retailers like Wal-Mart, Joe Fresh, JCPenney and the Children's Place were each found to have subcontracted manufacturing to the crumbling factory in Savar, where workers were making an average of $38 a month and coerced to report to work even after the walls of the building were literally falling apart. In November, fire ravaged another garment factory near the capital city of Dhaka, leaving 112 dead. Again, pieces of clothing from Sears, the Walt Disney Co. and other major retailers were found among the scorched remains.

In the aftermath of such tragic, and preventable, losses of life, many consumers are left asking themselves what role they can play in discouraging disasters like this from happening again. And, fortunately, there are answers. The collective power of workers is a real thing, and the collective power of consumers is, too.

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But it has stayed on top partly by using an underworld of labor brokers known as raiteros, who pick up workers from Chicago's street corners and shuttle them to Ty's warehouse on behalf of one of the nation's largest temp agencies.

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And while they may have been happy to do come in despite the potential danger, eager to play whatever small part they could in the manhunt for someone who terrorized Boston, labor leaders say the case highlights how the bombing and its aftermath has affected workers in the Boston area this week.

"Most low wage workers can't afford to lose a day's pay, and there's no doubt this lockdown will adversely impact the city's working poor," said Jessica Kutch, a labor activist who co-founded the organizing site coworker.org, in an email to Salon. "I'd really like to see employers state on the record that their hourly workers will be paid for the time they were scheduled to work today -- but I suspect that most employers will place the burden of this shutdown squarely on the backs of people who can least afford it."

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In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama unveiled his “fix it first” plan, a $50 billion program for repairing the nation’s roads, highways, bridges and transit systems. Although this is a step in the right direction, the plan should also meet the concerns of the newly emerging transportation-justice movement, about which we have heard nothing from the president so far.

The Obama administration last directed major funds toward infrastructure as a part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The government spent more than $31 billion, with a focus on “shovel-ready” projects.

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The difference is pretty well known by now: the underemployment rate includes various groups of underutilized workers or job seekers who are left out of the official rate.  The largest difference is the inclusion of part-time workers who would rather have full-time jobs.  Most recently, there were about 8 million such folks, elevating this measure of underutilization to around 14 percent compared to about 8 percent for unemployment (2013Q1).  Other components of this rate include discouraged workers who’ve recently looked for work but given up, and some other smaller groups that are neither working nor looking for work but remain marginally attached to the job market.

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