USA Today, targeted at a general, less sophisticated audience than other national newspapers, was credited with an innovative strategy for successful journalism, even as it was criticized for lowering the standards of the journalistic profession.

The United States Steel Corporation was perhaps the most heralded American company throughout much of the twentieth century and had a major impact on the world’s economy.

The United Mine Workers of America has been instrumental in changing the way in which companies and workers regard each other and in improving labor relations between the groups.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union strives to improve and protect the rights of workers by fighting for competitive wages, health care reform, retirement security, safe working conditions, and the right to unionize.

The United Farm Workers organizes for the rights of agricultural workers and has been instrumental in changing labor laws and securing more equitable contracts.

Initially touted as an act to lower tariffs, the longer termsignificance was the manner in which the act attempted to offset the loss of tariff revenue—namely by creating the federal income tax on individuals.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent federal agency that works to support economic growth and agricultural development, global health, and disaster assistance in developing areas of the world.

The U.S. Commercial Service, an agency within the Department of Commerce, promotes exports of goods and services from the United States, particularly by small and medium-sized business.

There are three major types of U.S. Treasury securities: bills, notes, and BONDS. In financial markets they are referred to as T-bills, T-notes, and T-bonds. The U.S. Treasury sells these securities on a continuing basis to finance the public (national) debt.

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is the chief trade negotiator in America as well as the chief advisor on trade policy to the president of the United States. According to its website the office of USTR is, responsible for “developing and implementing trade policies which promote world growth and create new opportunities for American businesses, workers and agricultural products.”

The United States Customs Service oversees all import and export activity to ensure that international trade activity complies with U.S. laws and regulations. Most Americans’ images of the Customs Service are the signs and questionnaires filled out when returning to the country from abroad, but the Customs Service has many other roles and responsibilities, which have changed over time.

All goods coming into the United States must “clear customs.” Many disputes in the customs area arise over the classification of imported goods—basically, what is it? While this may seem a simple question, sometimes it is not; the TARIFF-duty rate depends on classification, and a substantial amount of tariff may depend on the outcome.

The U.S. Census Bureau generates and provides general statistical information about the U.S. population. The Census Bureau and census data are important sources of information for marketers and PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION. The need for a national census arose during the Constitutional Convention in 1789, when delegates agreed to use population as the basis for representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The United States–Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA, 1989) reduced and eliminated TARIFFs on PRODUCTs traded between the two countries, initiated a trade agreement on SERVICES, increased investor access in each country, and created new mechanisms for trade-dispute resolution.

The United Farm Workers (UFW) is a small but politically and socially active union representing agricultural workers in the western United States.

A union is an organization of workers established to protect members’ rights when dealing with employers. A popular and often true statement about unions is “bad MANAGEMENT creates unions.” Today about 15 percent of the U.S. LABOR FORCE is unionized.

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a set of statutes that govern various types of commercial transactions, and its principles are meant to be followed uniformly by the various American states.

Unemployment is measured as the percentage of the LABOR FORCE not currently working. Labor force is defined as people working plus people actively seeking work. “Actively seeking work” usually means people are currently registered with their state EMPLOYMENT service.

Underwriting, financial intermediation provided by INVESTMENT BANKING firms in PRIMARY MARKETS, is the purchase and subsequent resale to the public of new issues of securities. Investment banking firms assist in the design and creation of new securities issues for CORPORATIONs wishing to raise additional CAPITAL.

Underwriters Laboratory (UL) is an independent, nonprofit PRODUCT safety, testing and certification organization. UL, in existence over 100 years, evaluates 100,000 products annually and conducts over 500,000 compliance audits each year.

Undertime is time taken off during the workday to compensate for workload and stress. Tom DeMarco coined the term undertime in his book Slack. Workers typically engage in two types of undertime: time away from the office and time spent in the office doing personal affairs.

The underground economy, also called informal or parallel economy, is economic activity that is not recorded in NATIONAL INCOME ACCOUNTING. Generally underground economic activity includes BARTER, illegal business activity (black markets), and unreported payments for goods and SERVICES.