John Schmitt

Later today, President Obama heads to Western New York as a part of his “White House to Main Street” tour.

He is scheduled to tour Industrial Support, Inc. and talk with employees from the small manufacturing company in downtown Buffalo. This comes on the heels of Wednesday’s announcement by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) to unveil a long awaited energy bill that they hope will create millions of energy related jobs throughout the country. 

So while jobs are at the top of Washington’s agenda, the question we’re asking is: What happens to those people whose job skills are for positions or industries that are becoming obsolete?

Doctors and lawyers are disgruntled. Long-term joblessness is on the rise in the middle class. Peter Lattman, lead blogger for the Wall Street Journal's law blog, and John Schmitt, senior economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, talk about what it all means.