As federal unemployment benefits end, many states' UI systems remain janky

Sep 7, 2021
Some crash, others don’t work on mobile devices. In some states, workers have to wait to receive new passwords by mail to access their accounts.
To help states improve their unemployment systems, the Labor Department is creating an Unemployment Insurance Modernization unit.
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Your guide to understanding unemployment insurance terms

Jul 16, 2020
A helpful glossary for terms and acronyms as the July 31 deadline approaches for Pandemic Unemployment Compensation to end.
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What's it like to return to the workforce in this economy?

Oct 4, 2019
It depends on how long you've been out, what you do and where you live.
A job fair
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New overtime rule covers fewer workers than Obama version

Sep 24, 2019
Had the 2016 rule been instituted, roughly three times more workers would have been covered.
Under the new rule, employers will be required to pay overtime to employees making less than $35,568.
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From fresh food to a new backyard fence, it's spending season

Jun 12, 2019
A look at consumer prices as our listeners get ready for summer.
Kelsey Sprowell of Iowa City, Iowa, chose to build this fence with her family to save money.
Courtesy of Kelsey Sprowell

Socially responsible investing is in the crosshairs of the Labor Department

May 7, 2018
An official recommendation was made to not put retirement plans at risk by investing in stocks that focus on environmental social governance, or ESG.
The day's numbers are displayed after the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange on May 3, 2018 in New York.
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Private sector wages and benefits are on the upswing, but economists caution celebrating

Jan 31, 2018
We are finally starting to see some signs that the tight labor market is pushing up wages. New numbers out today from the Department of Labor show wages and salaries in the private sector are up 2.8 percent from this time last year. That doesn’t leave too much extra cash for workers once you factor […]

For public good, not for profit.

When the public weighs in on proposed regulation, does it matter?

Jan 22, 2018
The Department of Labor has a new rule it wants to get on the books that would change the way restaurants treat tips. It’s called the tip-pooling rule, and would let workers in the back of the house, like dishwashers and prep cooks, share the tips made by the servers in the front of the […]

Your restaurant tips may not go to your server under proposed rule change

Dec 6, 2017
The Department of Labor has proposed changes to Obama-era rules about tipping. The changes would let employers pool tip money from workers who earn at least minimum wage and share it with non-tipped workers or use it to “make capital improvements, lower prices, or hire additional workers.” The public comment period is remarkably short, with […]

What happens when the economic census is late

All of the policy and business decisions that use that census data — and there are a lot — will get pushed back, too.