The president also addressed an announcement by the U.S.Labor Department Friday that the total number of people asking for unemployment assistance rose to almost 500,000 in the last week of June.
VOA: standard.2010.07.03
Joseph Hinrichs, Ford's group vice president of manufacturing and labor relations, said the agreement would push Ford's totallabor cost per hour, including benefits, "into the ballpark" with foreign-based rivals.
The self-employment rate for adults 55 and older is 16.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well above the 10.4 percent rate of self-employment for the totallabor force.