Staycations Rule Labor Day Weekend

With gas cheaper, 28.9M expected to hit road this weekend

(NEWSER) - Nearly 29 million people will travel by car during the upcoming Labor Day weekend, AAA reports—slightly fewer than last year, despite lower gas prices. A gallon averages $2.75, down 10 cents from last Labor Day. The overall number of travelers this holiday weekend is expected to go up, however, thanks to a slight increase in air travel. More»

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.

Average worker skipped 2 days of time off

(NEWSER) - America, you’re working too hard. The average worker earned 14 vacation days this year, but only used 12 of them, according to a survey from Expedia. That works out to about 226 million unused days in total and, based on the national average salary of $39,416 per year for full-time workers, $34.3 billion worth of forfeited time, CNN reports. Only two nations in the study ( PDF here ) took less time off: Japan and South Korea. More»

More people may be drinking at home: CDC

(NEWSER) - The good news: According to self-reported data, Americans are driving drunk less often. The bad news: It may not be because we're more responsible, but because ... we're broke. The CDC data shows that self-reported drunk driving among adults was down 30% from 161 million instances in 2006 to about 112 million in 2010. Though the reasons are "not well understood," the CDC says the poor economy could be a factor, as more people drink at home. More»

LeHigh warehouse like something out of Grapes of Wrath , Ezra Klein observes

(NEWSER) - In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family gets a hard lesson in economics, when they follow a handbill for jobs to California—only to find there are no jobs. Why, he asks, did they put out the handbills? A fellow homeless man replies that if you’ve but one man for a job, you must pay him what he wants. “But s’pose they’s a hundred men wants that job. … Jus’ offer ‘em a nickel—why they’ll kill each other fightin’ for that nickel." One might dismiss that as another time and/or fiction, but Ezra Klein sees a modern example right in Pennsylvania. More»