Employment

Labor Dept: Jobless Claims Fall For Third Straight Week

CNBC reports: Initial jobless claims declined for the third consecutive week as the U.S. labor market continued its recovery from last year’s recession. New claims for jobless benefits totaled 375,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, matching estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The reading for the previous week was revised upward by 2,000 to 387,000 claims. The …

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Labor Department: US Added 943,000 Jobs Last Month

The New York Times reports: The American economy roared into midsummer with a strong gain in hiring, but there are questions about its ability to maintain that momentum as the Delta variant of the coronavirus causes growing concern. Employers added 943,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported Friday, but the data was collected in the first half of the …

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US Added 850K Jobs In June, Unemployment Rate Flat

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June as the pace of the recovery surged — quieting simmering fears, at least temporarily, of more lasting harm from labor and supply shortages. The unemployment rate changed little, ticking up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent. The news is likely to be seen as a good sign …

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Anti-Vaxxers Protest TX Hospital For Firing Covidiots

Houston’s Fox News affiliate reports: Several dozen protesters gathered Saturday outside Houston Methodist Hospital to voice their opposition to the hospital’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy. “I’m running out of options for my career because of a mandatory vaccine that could affect my fertility,” said Keri R, a registered nurse previously at Houston Methodist. “They’re not giving proper informed consent,” said …

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153 Anti-Vax Texas Hospital Staffers Now Unemployed

Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports: A total of 153 workers at Houston Methodist Hospital have either resigned or have been fired after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier this month, the hospital reported 178 employees had been suspended for not complying with the hospital’s vaccine requirement for workers. It appears most of those employees chose to leave the hospital …

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Federal Court Tosses Vaccine Suit By Hospital Workers

USA Today reports: In the first federal ruling on vaccine mandates, a Houston judge late Saturday dismissed a lawsuit by hospital employees who declined the COVID-19 shot – a decision that could have a ripple effect across the nation. The case involved Houston Methodist, which was the first hospital system in the country to require that all its employees get …

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Texas Hospital Suspends 178 Vax-Refusing Employees

The Washington Post reports: A Houston-based hospital system suspended more than 170 health-care workers who did not comply with the organization’s vaccine mandate, the system’s CEO said Tuesday, a day after employees protested the requirement outside a medical center. While 24,947 of Houston Methodist’s employees were fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by Monday’s deadline, 178 employees did not get …

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US Added 559K Jobs In May, Unemployment At 5.8%

Bloomberg News reports: U.S. job growth accelerated in May and the unemployment rate fell, signaling firms are making progress filling a record number of openings as the economy powers up. Payrolls increased by 559,000 last month after a revised 278,000 gain in April, according to a Labor Department report Friday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was …

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Weekly New Jobless Claims Near Pre-Pandemic Level

CNBC reports: Initial jobless claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as the labor market continues to recover, the Labor Department reported Thursday. First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 385,000 for the week ended May 29, a decline from the previous week’s 405,000 and below the Dow Jones estimate of 393,000. …

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EEOC: Employers May Require COVID Vaccination

From the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: The federal EEO laws do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, subject to the reasonable accommodation provisions of Title VII and the ADA and other EEO considerations. These principles apply if an employee gets the vaccine in the community or from the employer. …

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Labor Dept: New Jobless Claims At Pandemic-Era Low

Bloomberg News reports: Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell last week to a fresh pandemic low, signaling steady improvement in the job market as remaining business restrictions are lifted. Initial claims in regular state programs decreased by 34,000 to 444,000 in the week ended May 15, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The drop in jobless applications shows the labor …

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Labor Dept: New Jobless Claims Hit Pandemic-Era Low

Bloomberg News reports: Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell to a fresh pandemic low last week as business confidence strengthens and employers seek to fill more positions left open by restrictions. Initial claims in regular state programs declined by 34,000 to 473,000 in the week ended May 8, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The labor market continues to improve …

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Biden To Order $15 Wage For Federal Contract Workers

CNN reports: Two months after his effort to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour ran into the Senate parliamentarian buzz saw, President Joe Biden is set to use his executive powers to hike the pay of hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers. The President is expected to issue an executive order on Tuesday that increases contract …

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Alabama Amazon Workers Reject Bid To Unionize

CBS News reports: Amazon has beaten back a historic effort by workers to form a collective bargaining unit in a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with about two-thirds of ballots cast in the union election voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. The final tally showed 1,798 votes …

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Amazon Sorry For Denying “Peeing In Bottles” Reports

Reuters reports: Amazon.com Inc has apologized to U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an “own goal” in its initial denial of his suggestion that its drivers were sometimes forced to urinate in bottles during their delivery rounds. “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been …

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US Added 916K Jobs In March, Unemployment At 6%

NBC News reports: The U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent, in the strongest indication yet that the labor market is finally working its way back to pre-pandemic norms as the number of vaccinations continues to rise. The hiring and employment data, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, firmly beat …

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Fox Finance Guru Fires Employees For Premarital Sex

The Tennessean reports: Former administrative assistant Caitlin O’Connor, who was employed by Ramsey Solutions for over four years and never disciplined, said when she announced she was pregnant in June and requested paperwork for maternity leave, she was terminated for her pregnancy since she isn’t legally married to her longtime partner, the baby’s father. Lawyers for Ramsey Solutions, owned by …

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Goldman Sachs Forecasts Jobless Rate Falling To 4.1%

The Hill reports: The unemployment rate could drop to 4.1 percent or even lower this year, according to a Goldman Sachs forecast released late Sunday night. Ultimately, the bank forecasts that unemployment will drop to 3.2 percent by 2024. If that were to happen, it would surpass the 50-year record set in the Trump administration, notching a significant win for …

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Manchin Defends Vote To Cut Unemployment Benefits

ABC News reports: “I didn’t do anything intentionally whatsoever,” Manchin said. “I did everything I could to bring us together so we’d have more support, and the public would get the needed help, as needed. We have so many different ways that we’re helping the public with this piece of legislation.” Debate over jobless benefits paralyzed the Senate for hours …

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Setback For Democrats On $15 Minimum Wage

NBC News reports: A ruling in the Senate late on Thursday dealt a severe blow to Democrats’ hopes of raising the minimum wage in the Covid-19 relief package, probably dooming the proposal in the legislation that is headed for a vote in Congress. The parliamentarian, the in-house referee, ruled that the provision was not compliant with rules governing the budget …

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