Tag: Workers

Private Employers Hire 113,000 New Workers in October; Pay Growth Slows

The Center Square

U.S. private employers grew their payrolls by 113,000 workers in October versus September’s 89,000 new hires, a month-over increase of 21%, according to the October ADP National Employment Report, a collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. 

“No single industry dominated hiring this month, and big post-pandemic pay increases seem to be behind us,” said Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a statement. “In all, October’s numbers paint a well-rounded jobs picture. And while the labor market has slowed, it’s still enough to support strong consumer spending.”

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Automakers Lay Off More Workers as Strike Takes Its Toll

Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Major automakers have laid off even more employees as union workers continue to strike at several manufacturing plants amid contract negotiations, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ford and General Motors laid off an additional 500 workers this week, bringing the total number of workers that have lost their jobs at the companies to a combined 6,000 following a strike from the United Auto Workers (UAW), according to the WSJ. UAW is currently striking against Ford, GM and Stellantis at 43 manufacturing plants using a targeted strike strategy, with many workers remaining on the job as contract negotiations continue.

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Health Insurance Costs Expected to Spike at Highest Rate in over a Decade

Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Employer health insurance costs are expected to increase significantly in 2024, affecting costs for both workers and businesses as hospital operating costs rise, according to data reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Next year, the costs for health insurance coverage from employers are expected to increase by around 6.5%, which could be the biggest increase in more than a decade, according to survey data acquired by the WSJ. Driving the increase in health insurance costs are inflated labor costs for hospitals and a large demand for expensive new diabetes and obesity drugs, which are being passed down to insurance companies in new contracts with the hospitals.

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Commentary: Unions Have Betrayed America

Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

Anyone suggesting there is no role for unions in America today might first consider a fact of history: more than a century ago, when oligarchs and the companies they owned had treated workers as if they were livestock, reduced to living in squalid pens with rationed food and water, it was unions that organized these workers to resist. It was unions who gave these workers back their humanity, and negotiated collective bargaining agreements and laws that eliminated child labor, enforced workplace safety, established an 8-hour work day, paid overtime, health benefits, and retirement pensions.

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Wisconsin Launches Direct Care Training Program for 10,000 New Workers

The Center Square

Wisconsin officials aren’t saying how much a new program to grow the state’s direct care workforce by 10,000 will cost taxpayers.

The program, launched by the Department of Health Services, includes free classes and promises a pair of $250 bonuses. The state has said it will use federal COVID-19 relief funds to cover the expense.

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‘Noncitizen Workers’ May Avoid Deportation if They Report Their Employers’ Labor Violations

Just the News

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it would streamline a deferred action process for noncitizens who report labor violations so as to help them avoid deportation.

The agency hopes that the policy will help it to identify exploitative work environments by protecting those who come forward from “immigration-related retaliation from the exploitive employers,” according to a press release. DHS contends that workers often avoid reporting labor violations for fear that their employers will retaliate on the basis of their immigration status.

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Commentary: A Mastery of the Skilled Trades Is Essential for a Free People

Admin

The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday revealed that Boeing is having trouble finding qualified workers for its nearly $5 billion Air Force One project. Thanks to COVID-related delays and retirements, the project is understaffed and behind schedule. The aviation giant has already lost $1.1 billion on the deal, which was contracted in 2018 at a fixed price of $3.9 billion and may not be finished until mid-2025.

Not just any warmblood with a wrench can walk in and get a job assembling the president’s jet. Due to the top-secret nature of the aircraft – actually, two specially converted 747-8s that the Air Force officially designates as the VC-25B – anyone working on the project needs to undergo an in-depth background check for a security clearance.

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Businesses Fail to Find Workers, and Experts Say Federal Policies Have Made It Worse

The Center Square

A new labor market survey found that a majority of employers, particularly restaurants, still cannot find enough workers.

The new report from Alignable said that 83% of restaurants can’t find enough workers. Overall, the report found that “63% of all small business employers can’t find the help they need, after a year of an ongoing labor shortage.”

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Commentary: Unemployment Benefits Are Causing America’s Worker Shortage

RealClearWire

These days, storefronts are adorned with “Now Hiring” and “Help Wanted” signs. Local family-owned businesses and restaurants are announcing reduced business hours and even closures, often citing a lack of employees. And many post signs imploring customers to be patient as fewer workers mean longer wait times.

A new jobs report released this week shows there are now more than 11 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. Where have the workers gone? Thanks to the Biden administration, millions are staying at home, where they’re given financial incentives not to return to the workforce. What started off as temporary measures to alleviate the pains of the pandemic have instead become a nearly two-year economic reality.

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Walmart to Hire Tens of Thousands of Workers

Admin

The nation’s largest private employer announced plans to hire tens of thousands of workers before the end of the quarter to help expand its business amid a tightening labor market.

Walmart announced Wednesday a plan to hire more than 50,000 workers in the U.S. by the end of April, the time of year when many companies decrease hiring following the busy holiday shopping season, The Wall Street Journal first reported. The new hires will reportedly fill positions in stores but also add staff in areas such as health, wellness and advertising.

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Commentary: I am Challenging the Vaccine Mandate to Protect My Workers’ Jobs

RealClearWire
Blue Collar Worker

The Biden administration has finally published its anticipated ultimatum threatening companies like mine with severe fines and penalties for not firing any employee who declines to be vaccinated against or submit to invasive weekly testing for COVID-19. The new rule promulgated by the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the guise of workplace safety may well bankrupt the business my father founded. So, as the CEO of the Phillips Manufacturing & Tower Company, I am joining with The Buckeye Institute to challenge OSHA’s vaccine mandate in court. Here’s why.

Phillips is a 54-year-old company based in Shelby, Ohio, that manufactures specialty welded steel tubing for automotive, appliance, and construction industries. OSHA’s emergency rule applies to companies with 100 or more employees — at our Shelby Welded Tube facility, we employ 104 people. As a family-owned business I take the health of my workers seriously — they are my neighbors and my friends. When I heard of the mandate, we conducted a survey of our workers to see what the impacts would be. It revealed that 28 Phillips employees are fully vaccinated, while antibody testing conducted at company expense found that another 16 employees have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies and likely possess natural immunity. At least 47 employees have indicated that they have not and will not be vaccinated. Seventeen of those 47 unvaccinated workers said that they would quit or be fired before complying with the vaccine or testing mandate. Those are 17 skilled workers that Phillips cannot afford to lose.

Perhaps the Biden administration remains unaware of the labor shortage currently plaguing the U.S. labor market generally and industrial manufacturing especially. Like many companies, Phillips is already understaffed, with seven job openings we have been unable to fill. Employees already work overtime to keep pace with customer demand, working 10-hour shifts, six days a week on average. Firing 17 veteran members of the Phillips team certainly won’t help.

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Facebook Settles with Department of Justice over Claims It Discriminated Against U.S. Workers

Admin

Facebook reached separate settlement agreements with the Department of Justice and Department of Labor on Tuesday, resolving claims that the tech giant discriminated against U.S. workers in hiring and recruiting.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Facebook in December 2020, alleging the company refused to hire or recruit qualified U.S. workers in thousands of open positions by reserving spots in its workforce for temporary visa holders through its permanent labor certification (PERM) program. The DOJ also alleged that Facebook intentionally tried to deter U.S. workers from applying for certain positions.

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Americans Remain Hard Workers Even Through the Pandemic, Especially in Red States

Wisconsin Daily Star Staff
Blue Collar Worker

With Labor Day upon us, it’s time to take a look at which are the hardest-working states in America, and why. It has been a year that daily and weekly work routines have dramatically changed for tens of millions of Americans.

Researchers for WalletHub, a personal finance website, have once again set out to determine which states are home to the hardest working Americans in their annual report. They compare the 50 states based on both direct and indirect work factors, and then apply 10 different metrics to reach an overall score to rank each state.

The direct work factors, according to WalletHub, include “average workweek hours, employment rate, the share of households where no adults work, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, share of engaged workers, and idle youth.”

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Biden Administration Won’t Push Pandemic Unemployment Bonus Extension

Wisconsin Daily Star Staff

The Biden administration signaled to Capitol Hill lawmakers Thursday that it will not support an extension of pandemic-related unemployment benefits.

President Joe Biden won’t advocate for an extension of the $300 unemployment bonus given to millions of out-of-work Americans on a weekly basis, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh wrote in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal. The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program, which was implemented in March 2020 and extended by Democrats’ recent American Rescue Plan, is set to expire in early September.

“As President Biden has said, the boost was always intended to be temporary and it is appropriate for that benefit boost to expire,” the secretaries wrote.

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