The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in January. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Latinos (10.5 percent) were little changed.

Black unemployment saw the biggest drop — from 15.8 to 13.6 percent. And for the first time in a long time, those numbers aren’t being fudged (much) by people who have dropped out of the workforce. Unemployment overall is at 8.3 percent now, and the BLS says that workforce participation is holding steady.

“These numbers are important because one, we now have the lowest unemployment rate in nearly three years. It’s also one of the biggest drops in black unemployment–nearly two points–that the BLS has recorded in years,” said Shani O. Hilton, Colorlines.com’s D.C. Correspondent.

“What makes this particularly heartening, though, is that unlike other points in the decline, the decline isn’t happening because Americans are giving up looking for work. The BLS reports that workforce participation is holding steady,” Hilton went on to say.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was not supposed to be among this year’s Super Bowl story lines. This year’s contenders, the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, should instead be taking center stage. Yet less than a week before America’s biggest sporting event of the year kicks off in Indianapolis, Gov. Daniels’  fight with the state’s unionized workers over legislation that could curtail the power of their collective bargaining rights has given a new national platform to the right wing’s bitter, decades-old war against unions.

Yet the NFL’s Player’s Association, which is the union that represents the league’s athletes, has also jumped onto the national stage and come out in opposition to the proposed Right to Work legislation. In doing so, the league’s union is taking an important, albeit symbolic, step to publicly bridge the gap that exists between the NFL’s multibillion dollar teams and its increasingly marginalized fan base. And it’s proof that sports is a powerful cultural art form that can help elevate some of today’s most controversial political issues.

On January 6, 2012, the NFLPA released a damning letter in opposition to the Indiana’s bill, which has since moved quickly through the state’s legislature.

“‘Right-to-work’ is a political ploy designed to destroy basic workers’ rights. It’s not about jobs or rights, and it’s the wrong priority for Indiana,” the statement read. “It is important to keep in mind the plight of the average Indiana worker and not let them get lost in the ceremony and spectacle” of the Super Bowl.

The statement was hugely important, considering what’s at stake for Indiana’s workers, particularly black ones. Black workers are disproportionately union members. They’re more likely than whites, Asians, and Latinos to be in public-unions, and make up 15 percent of total membership, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Historically, unions have been crucial gateways for black workers to earn higher wages and break into the middle class.

While supporters of Right to Work argue that the laws are needed to foster a “pro-business” atmosphere that helps generate desperately needed jobs, research has shown that the laws can have disastrous effects on workers. The Economic Policy Institute released a report in January showing that workers employed in Right to Work states makes less money and are less likely to be offered health care.

DeMaurice F. Smith, executive director of the player’s union, pressed the point even further in an op-ed published a week later in one of Indiana’s most widely read newspapers. ” An indisputable lesson of our American history is that none of those workplace protections came as a gift from corporations,” wrote Smith, who’d previously made a name for him self as a hard-nosed litigator. “Rather, all of them resulted from the ability of workers to stand united and demand change when it would have been easy to fire or silence the voice of a single worker.”

There are currently 22 states in the country that have the law, mostly in the South and in western states like Wyoming and Utah. Indiana’s bill, which the state Senate passed this week and Gov. Daniels has already vowed to sign into law, is unique because it will be the first the law that’s been put into action in an industrialized area with a large, unionized workforce.

“I don’t think it was surprising, but I think it’s important,” said Washington State University professor David Leonard about the NFLPA’s statement.

And for some observers, the reason why it’s important is because there’s been an growing divide between the league and its average fans, many of whom are people of color.

Professional football in America gained popularity as a uniquely working class sport in which teams (think the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers) were named after regional manufacturing economies. These days, as ticket prices have risen to the tune of hundreds of dollars for a single game, the game has become an exaggerated expression of wealth in America when many fans are struggling financially.

Larry Solomon is a longtime professor at San Francisco State University. He’s also a lifelong football fan, and has noticed that biggest enclaves of football fans are often in the most historically disenfranchised communities.

“They’re not cheering for the owners,” Salomon says of most fans. “They’re cheering for their cities, they’re cheering their friends and for people like them who identify around that team.”

For Salomon, that sort of ferver carries with it the potential for raising people’s political awareness. “When I go home and watch the Super Bowl with my family this weekend, I hope the NFLPA and the Indiana stuff comes up, but last year we talked about abortion during the Super Bowl because of Tim Tebow and his ad.

“You have these moments where sports intersects with politics, intersects with race, and you can have conversations with people who might not normally have those conversations.”

And this year is certainly one of those moments. 

“The Super Bowl is a staging ground for American Exceptionalism,” said Leonard, the professor at Washington State, noting that the Navy spends millions of dollars to do fly-overs before the game. “It’s a celebration and festival for the wealthy that’s done because of the labor of disproportionately men of color.”

That, Leonard suggests, is a macrocosm for how other industries work.

“Yes, the money is different and the stage is different, but that doesn’t mean that the lessons that we can learn aren’t there.”

Indeed, the 2011 NFL season was mired in political discussions from the start. It began with a protracted labor dispute between owners and players which lead to a lockout that lasted well into training camp. The NFLPA repeatedly emphasized how damaging a prolonged lockout could be not just to players and coaches, but also for the concession stand workers and ticket agents who work at the league’s stadiums and whose livelihoods often depend on fans showing up and spending money at games.

Another key issue that was brought up by players during the lockout is one with which many workers in other industries can relate: occupational safety.

While professional football is an admittedly physical sport and the allure of big hits has drawn in many fans over the years, the eventual price of that brutality has recently become apparent. New research has shown that players who suffer multiple concussions stand at far greater risk of developing severe depression and early onset dementia.

“I’m not sure players overall have really ‘gotten it’ with respect to the extent to which the money they make can be fleeting, but I think they’re beginning to get the idea that their health, their vibrancy can be fleeting,” said N. Jeremi Duru, a professor at Temple University and author of the forthcoming book “Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL.” He maintains that players’ increased awareness has made them more willing to protect their physically interests, and thus has created a climate in which their union’s support of other worker’s struggles isn’t all that surprising.

“The unanswered question is whether any of the players participating in the Super Bowl will say anything,” says Dave Zirin, a columnist at The Nation and author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love.” Though Zirin cautions that it’s not something fans should expect, he also thinks that if players do participate, the issue of worker’s rights in Indiana would get attention that’s “out of this stratosphere.” 

Among Dr. Addy’s key findings:

• By driving some immigrants out of the state and others underground, the law will damage the economy by shrinking demand for the goods and services that Alabama businesses provide. Dr. Addy estimates that HB 56 will shrink the state’s GDP by at least $2.3 billion (1% of the state’s 2010 GDP), and possibly as much as $10.8 billion (6% of 2010 GDP).
• Supporters of HB 56 have misleadingly pointed to the declining unemployment rate among Alabamians to argue that the law is “working.” However, Dr. Addy points out: “recent data show employment falling in the four sectors (agriculture, construction, accommodation, and food and drinking places) that are often alleged to employ migrant and unauthorized workers.” Dr. Addy estimates that the law will ultimately cost Alabama 70,000-140,000 jobs.
• The supporters of HB 56 who deny that immigrants pay taxes might be surprised to learn that HB 56 is costing the state $57-$265 million in state taxes, with an additional $20-$90 million loss in local sales taxes. This is a staggering cost to the state budget even without considering the costs of enforcing the law and defending it in court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will cause the cost to balloon even more.

Addy also lays out common arguments among HB56  supporters and goes on to dispel the so called “economic benefits” of the law:

• Saving funds used to provide public benefits to illegal immigrants
  The two most common benefits that illegal immigrants are said to enjoy are healthcare services at emergency hospitals and clinics and educational services (mainly for their children). No one knows for sure how much savings will be generated because of the significant uncertainty regarding the hard data required. However, as unauthorized immigrants try to avoid notice as much as possible any such savings is likely to be small.

• Increased safety for citizens and legal residents
  This benefit depends on whether illegal immigrants commit crimes and endanger public safety at a higher or lower rate than citizens and other legal residents. There is a benefit only if the rate is higher for illegal immigrants. Considering that most illegal immigrants are seeking to better their lot, it is more likely that the rate would be lower for them.

• More business, employment, and education opportunities
  It is generally accepted that unauthorized immigrants work for low wages. As such, the absence of illegal immigrants is likely to improve competitiveness for businesses that found it extremely difficult to compete because they do not use such labor. This might make the business climate attractive for out-of-state businesses that do not use illegal immigrant labor to consider relocating to the state. Such benefits for some businesses do not translate into a benefit for the aggregate economy because they cannot fully make up for the reduced demand caused by the absence of unauthorized immigrant workers.

• Ensuring the integrity of various governmental programs and services
  This can only be a benefit of the immigration law if illegal immigrants use governmental programs and services dishonestly. Because they wish to remain undetected, illegal immigrants usually apply for services for their legal children when required to by state and national laws; sometimes these laws specify provision of the services to children.

The full report “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the New Alabama Immigration Law” is available below. [PDF]
New AL Immigration Law – Costs and Benefits

Apprehensions average at $18k, detention at about $3k, legal proceedings and transportation come in close to $2k and it all adds up to a whopping $285 billion.

More from Business Insider:

A year ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deputy director Kumar Kibble told Congress it costs about $12,500 to deport an undocumented immigrant.

However, a 2010 report by Center for American Progress and Rob Paral and Associates took a close look at all the budget appropriations for ICE and broke down the costs per person for each one of the four stages of deportation process: apprehension, detention, legal proceeding and transportation. The whopping cost of deportation per person that they came up with is $23,480.

The report states that ICE and US Customs and Borders Protection budgets have increased by 80% since 2005, amounting to $17.1 billion in FY2010. If US were to undertake a mass deportation campaign its cost over five years would be $285 billion, which “would mean new taxes of $922 for every man, woman, and child in our country. $5,100 fewer dollars for the education of every public and private school student from prekindergarten to the 12th grade.”

Visit Business Insider for a more detailed breakdown of the numbers.

On Jan. 1, 2012, San Francisco’s minimum wage became the first in the nation to pass the $10 mark. The lowest-wage workers will now earn $10.24 an hour, up from the previous rate of $9.92 last year. The city’s minimum wage is tied to and adjusted for inflation, or specifically the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco Bay Area. For most of the country the minimum wage is not at all tied to inflation, and therefore has lost value in real terms.

But San Francisco’s is different because of a law enacted as a result of Proposition L, a city ballot measure fought for and won by a coalition of organized labor and a diverse network of community-based progressive organizations back in 2003. The alliance was particularly rooted in communities of color and pushed by low-wage workers not typically represented by traditional unions.

After the passage of Proposition L, the new minimum wage started at $8.50 in 2004, and has risen incrementally since to its present value. However, this is still far below a living wage, especially in San Francisco, a city with one of the highest costs of living in the country. Additionally, a range of issues such as a housing shortage, little access to healthcare, and wage theft among others make it increasingly difficult for the city’s low-wage workers.

In response to these challenges, the coalition of community organizations that united to bring about the minimum wage increase has continued to work together over the past several years to tackle the range of the issues affecting their memberships. Uniting under the banner of the Progressive Workers Alliance, groups from across the city representing historically-marginalized communities very consciously have chose to organize using a multiracial model, uniting a broad base of affected workers.

The Progressive Workers Alliance itself is a lesson the individual organizations have learned from the minimum wage fight of 2003. In coalition the groups have realized their impact is larger, and their power has increased. They are using this to better advocate for their memberships’ economic interests, and affect change on a grander scale.

To help tell this story, Colorlines.com spoke with Jaron Browne and Donaji Lona from People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER); Shaw San Liu from the Chinese Progressive Association; Renee Saucedo from SF Day Laborer Program and Women’s Collective; and Ken Jacobs from the UC Berkeley Labor Center.