unemployment

Almost every state is suffering some sort of budget crisis after last year's financial collapse, and yet jobs programs largely come through the states. Green jobs have been the solution on everyone's lips, but where are they right now? And what about state subsidies for corporations that provide jobs with lousy pay and working conditions? Carrie Brunk, executive director of New York Jobs With Justice, joins Ed Ott in the studio to talk about bailouts, corporate subsidies, and why those aren't helping working people on the ground.

With joblessness hovering around 10 percent, tips on navigating the UI system with Courtney Chappell of the DC Employment Justice Center; neurobiologist Kathleen Michels on why grass soccer fields are safer and more cost-effective; Junious Brickhouse and Emily Wessel of the DC-based Urban Artistry dance company on reclaiming hip-hop styles; poetry by Kyle Dargan ("Tesserae") and Anne Becker ("Berry Hollow"); and roots music with the U-Liners. "The Coffee House" is a monthly, TV magazine of public affairs and the arts. The producer of The Coffee House is Mark Cohen.

In several regions of the United States -- Michigan, parts of Ohio and Indiana, stretches of New England and the rural south, historically depressed urban areas -- the jobless figures are so acute that they have become the definitional social, economic and political concern. John Nichols of the Nation has a suggestion for the President: use the bank bailout dollars to put regular Americans back to work.

In 2007, a VA survey found that 18 percent of recently discharged veterans were unemployed and that of those who had found a job, 25 percent made less than $22,000 a year. Those numbers have only gotten worse since the recent recession, but with ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more and more servicemembers are returning home and trying to find work. This video from New America Media takes a look at the struggles of veterans to readjust to civilian life.