Tag Archives: employment

Labor Dept: 6.6 Million New Jobless Claims This Week

NPR reports: The number of people seeking unemployment benefits shot up again last week, as 6.6 million more people filed initial claims, the Labor Department said Thursday. And analysts expect the numbers to keep rising in coming weeks. About 17 million have filed in the past three weeks. In the prior week, ending March 28, a revised 6.9 million people …

Read More »

Record 6.6 Million Jobless Claims Filed Last Week

The New York Times reports: More than 6.6 million people filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, setting a grim record for the second straight week. Added to 3.3 million claims for the week ending March 21, it means nearly 10 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in two weeks. The speed and …

Read More »

Labor Dept Reports Record 3.28 Million Jobless Claims

NPR reports: A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country. The Labor Department’s report Thursday was one of the first official indicators of how many people have suddenly been forced out of work nationally. The staggering claims figure was well above the levels seen during the darkest …

Read More »

Trump Admin Asks States To Withhold Jobless Figures

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is asking state labor officials to delay releasing the precise number of unemployment claims they are fielding, an indication of how uneasy policymakers are about further roiling a stock market already plunging in response to the coronavirus outbreak. In an email sent Wednesday, the Labor Department instructed state officials to only “provide …

Read More »

Google Recommends That Staffers Work From Home

Business Insider reports: Google is recommending that all of its tens of thousands of North American employees work from home, its latest move to try and protect its employees from the growing coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley-based search giant sent out a memo to its workforce informing that it was now changing its policies to recommend all workers …

Read More »

Labor Dept Issues Robust Jobs Report For February

The Hill reports: The U.S. added 273,000 jobs in February, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department, blowing past expectations ahead of a feared coronavirus economic slump. The unemployment rate stayed roughly even at 3.5 percent while the labor force participation rate held steady at 63.4 percent. February’s job gain comes after an upwardly revised increase of 273,000 …

Read More »

Major Labor Union To Spend $150M To Defeat Trump

The Associated Press reports: One of the nation’s largest labor unions is unveiling plans to invest $150 million in a nationwide campaign to help defeat President Donald Trump, a sweeping effort focused on eight battleground states and voters of color who typically don’t vote. The investment marks the largest voter engagement and turnout operation in the history of the Service …

Read More »

U-Haul Will No Longer Hire Nicotine Users In 21 States

Axios reports: U-Haul will not hire people who use nicotine products in 21 states beginning Feb. 1 in an attempt “to establish one of the healthiest corporate cultures in the U.S. and Canada,” the company announced in a statement. The ACLU considers anti-nicotine hiring policies “discriminatory” and a violation of worker privacy, but smokers are not a protected class under …

Read More »

Dem Debate Back On After Labor Dispute Resolution

Politico reports: The PBS NewsHour/POLITICO debate among Democratic presidential candidates appears poised to proceed as scheduled on Thursday, after the national party organization helped broker a last-minute resolution to a labor dispute that had threatened to upend the televised forum. All seven White House contenders who qualified for the debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles threatened Friday to …

Read More »

Trump Gets Robust November Jobs Reports

Bloomberg News reports: U.S. job gains roared back in November as unemployment matched a half-century low and wages topped estimates, giving the Federal Reserve more reason to hold interest rates steady after three straight cuts. Stock futures and the dollar jumped while Treasuries slid. Payrolls jumped 266,000, the most since January, after an upwardly revised 156,000 advance the prior month, …

Read More »

INDONESIA: Govt Bans LGBTs From Civil Service Jobs

Agence France-Presse reports: Several Indonesian ministries are banning pregnant, disabled, or LGBT job hunters in favour of what one called “normal” applicants, the Ombudsman said Friday, slammed as “arbitrary and hateful restrictions” by a rights group. The report comes as the world’s biggest Muslim majority country takes applications from millions of candidates who are applying for some 200,000 civil-service jobs …

Read More »

Bernie Lands Major Endorsement From Nurses Union

Just in via press release: National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of registered nurses, announces today that it will endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. Nurses cite how Sanders’ leading platform closely aligns with nurses’ values on a whole host of issues, including rebuilding America’s labor movement to restore workers’ rights and his trailblazing leadership …

Read More »

October Employment Report Better Than Forecast

The New York Times reports: The American job market has lost some momentum, but a major auto strike was not enough to knock it off the road in October. Ordinarily, a gain of 128,000 jobs would count as a weak month. But the figure looks stronger accounting for the strike at General Motors, which shaved close to 50,000 workers from …

Read More »

CHICAGO: 22,000 Public School Teachers Go On Strike

The Chicago Tribune reports: The Chicago Teachers Union is on strike and teachers have joined picket lines at schools across the city this morning after the union’s House of Delegates on Wednesday rejected Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Board of Education’s latest proposals. The CTU said it plans to resume contract negotiations with city officials at 9:30 a.m. at …

Read More »

GM Reaches Tentative Deal With Striking Autoworkers

CNBC reports: General Motors and union leaders have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract that could end the United Auto Workers’ month-long strike against the automaker, the UAW said Wednesday. Details of the proposed deal were not immediately available. However, the union’s roughly 48,000 members with GM are expected to receive raises and bonuses as part of …

Read More »

Gorsuch Pegged As Possible Swing Vote After SCOTUS Hears Three LGBT Employment Discrimination Cases

Reuters reports: U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared divided over whether a landmark decades-old federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace protects gay and lesbian employees as they heard arguments in one of the biggest cases of their current term. Liberal justices signaled sympathy toward arguments that gay workers are covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights …

Read More »

Tomorrow: SCOTUS Hears LGBT Employment Cases

Roll Call reports: The Supreme Court confronts a major civil rights issue Tuesday over how broadly the justices should read the word “sex” in a 55-year-old anti-discrimination law — and a key aspect is Congress’ current push to clarify that the law covers LGBT individuals. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits private companies from discriminating against …

Read More »

Jobs: Hiring Slows, Wages Fall, Unemployment Dips

USA Today reports: Hiring slowed in September as employers added 136,000 jobs, fueling recession concerns and possibly raising the odds of another Federal Reserve rate cut this month. The unemployment rate fell from 3.7% to 3.5%, a new 50-year low, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists expected 145,000 job gains, according to a Bloomberg survey. Partly offsetting the weak showing: …

Read More »

INDIANA: DOJ Statement Backs Firing Of Gay Teacher

The Indianapolis Star reports: The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday issued a Statement of Interest in support of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in its ongoing dispute with a former Catholic school teacher who alleges he was wrongfully terminated because he was in a same-sex marriage. Joshua Payne-Elliott is currently suing the archdiocese, alleging it illegally interfered with his contractual …

Read More »

Auto Workers Call Strike Against General Motors

CNBC reports: The United Auto Workers union plans to strike against General Motors following the two sides not reaching a tentative deal before a Saturday night deadline. The strike, depending on its length, could easily cost GM hundreds of millions of dollars. The last time the union declared a strike at GM was in 2007. The two-day work stoppage was …

Read More »