Will labor unions maintain their momentum in 2024?

Dec 28, 2023
Unions are more visible and vocal than they've been in decades. If the labor market remains tight, they'll have negotiating leverage.
A United Auto Workers union hall in Chicago. The UAW's coordinated work stoppages made headlines and produced results in 2023.
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Content creator economy is everywhere, but labor data and protections are sparse

Nov 9, 2023
The government has virtually no data on this mostly unregulated, $250 billion global industry, says Drew Harwell of The Washington Post.
"This is a market of millions of people around the world who work as creators or influencers," said Drew Harwell at The Washington Post.
Phillippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

How much are employers paying for labor? That's where the ECI comes in.

Oct 30, 2023
The employment cost index, a favorite Federal Reserve data point, captures the cost of employing people, including benefits.
The employment cost index doesn't just calculate wages. It also factors in how much employers spend on benefits.
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In tight labor market, businesses practice "strategic retention"

Oct 26, 2023
Economists at the Dallas Fed reported some evidence of “labor hoarding” in the latest Beige Book.
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"Overemployed" people secretly work overlapping remote jobs

Oct 23, 2023
They do it for the money. But overemployment also symbolizes a change in Americans' attitudes toward work.
There are online forums where people share tips about how to work overlapping remote jobs.
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As the labor market loosens, workers may be more willing to work nights and weekends

Oct 20, 2023
They may find it attractive to earn money while others are playing.
"People are reconsidering their income needs and maybe could find ways to time their classes, time their childcare, to what the employers are offering," said Penn State Abington economics professor Lonnie Golden.
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How below-the-line workers are surviving the Hollywood strikes

Oct 18, 2023
As actors continue to picket for a better contract, some Hollywood workers are forced to make tough decisions.
Thousands of Hollywood strikers marched from Netflix to the Paramount lot where SAG-AFTRA held a special rally.
Robert Garrova

For public good, not for profit.

For this Michigan business owner, wage hikes are tied to price hikes

Oct 16, 2023
Annie Lang Hartman, owner of Wild Lettie, is planning ahead. And one of her biggest concerns is payroll.
"We're kind of settling into fall, which is a little bit quieter for us," said Annie Lang Hartman of Wild Lettie. Above, the interior of one of her shops.
Courtesy Lang Hartman

Unemployment claims are at their lowest number since January

Sep 21, 2023
The labor market is still pretty tight, even after the last year and a half of rate hikes loosened things a bit.
Even without big hiring expansions, there are still more jobs out there than workers available to fill them.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

How Labor Day has changed — and not changed — in its 140-year history

Sep 4, 2023
The first Labor Day parade took place in 1882. Historian Allyson Brantley says there are notable parallels between that moment and today.
A member of the sheet metal workers union walks in a 2022 Labor Day parade in Wilmington, California. Parades have been a mainstay of Labor Day celebrations since the 1880s.
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