During the course of creating this website and reporting the stories, there were two big surprises for me. First, I knew I wanted to name this project “Invisible Labor,” but I started to think creatively about other titles assuming the domain name would already be taken. I was looking for a title that would serve as a good frame for workers’ stories… Read more →

In 2006, I produced a poetry show at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe called Raise the Wage. Through the spoken word group Poetic People Power, I commissioned Jonathan Walton to create this poem for workers. The poem, eight years later, remains relevant.   River of Currency by Jonathan Walton P3 – Raise the Wage from Poetic People Power on Vimeo. Read more →

The AFL-CIO has a creative, interactive website – Executive Paywatch –  that shows the huge gaps between CEO pay and the wages of average workers. In 2013, CEOs made 331 times the pay of their workers. In a fun, accessible way, the website includes stories from workers, demographics, and lets you compare your salary to CEOs. An interactive graph also… Read more →

If you are looking to stay up-to-date on labor issues but don’t always have time to read long articles, I suggest checking out Belabored on Dissent Magazine’s website. Hosted by Sarah Jaffe and Michelle Chen, this biweekly podcast features labor news and analysis. Jaffe and Chen have produced over 50 episodes since April 2013. In the latest podcast, they report… Read more →

It’s no surprise that service jobs pay less than jobs in the financial sector, but to get a clearer picture of who is making the most money in New York City and from what kinds of positions, I created this data visualization. The data comes from the Department of Labor.       These occupational headings in the report are a little… Read more →

Last night at the Art In General gallery space in Tribeca, artist Lisi Raskin led a discussion about invisible labor. It was a thought-provoking discussion, and I found it interesting to hear the term “invisible labor” used in the art world. To Raskin’s credit, she pointed out issues of unpaid labor in the field, as well as acknowledging the extent… Read more →

In the course of writing the print article for this site, I came across several reports with interesting statistics about underpaid workers and how they experience their jobs. Since I was unable to include more of this information in the article, I’m highlighting some of those report findings here. Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations In… Read more →