Labor

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** FILE ** Independent Angus King greets workers leaving Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, on Monday, Oct. 22, 2012. (Associated Press)

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Office workers flood District streets in Chinatown in Northwest after a 5.9 earthquake in Virginia is felt in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, August 23, 2011. (Andrew Harnik / The Washington Times)

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Job hunter Bessie Soley of Locust Grove, Ga., fills out an employment application at the National Job Fair in Atlanta on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Thierry Coste of the European Union farmers union addresses the media in Brussels on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, about the worst wine-grape harvest for the region in a half-century. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

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Trays of printed Social Security checks in Philadelphia wait to be mailed from the U.S. Treasury in 2005. (Associated Press) **FILE**

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Former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch tweeted his skepticism five minutes after the Labor Department recently announced the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8 percent in September from 8.1 percent the previous month. (Associated Press)

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks with reporters following talkswith the media following labor talks with the NHLPA in Toronto on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. Negotiations continue between the league and the players' union over collective bargaining as both sides try to avoid a potential lockout. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

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The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, Rep. W. Todd Akin, who home-schooled his children, not surprisingly has the avid backing of the state’s home-schoolers. Mr. Akin is running to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, who has the endorsement of teachers unions. (The Associated Press)

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Deanna Aguilera (right), 30, of Salt Lake City receives assistance from employment counselor Frank Trivino while job searching at Workforce Services in Salt Lake City on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

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Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant outlines some current health care initiatives established by his administration in hopes that they will help with easing into the federal health care overhaul in the state at the the Mississippi Health Care Reform Summit at Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. The day long summit also dealt with the current status of employer provided health care as well specific upcoming changes and their effect on businesses. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

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Secretary of the Interior Kenneth L. Salazar visited the Abound Solar Inc. plant in Longmont, Colo., in 2009. The company has filed for bankruptcy, but the Department of Labor says its laid-off employees aren’t eligible for federal trade assistance. (Associated Press)