Labor Department

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A Welcome Milestone on Jobless Claims

New claims drop below 1M for first time since March

(Newser) - Layoffs continue five months into the pandemic, but there is a silver lining. Unemployment claims dropped below 1 million last week for the first time since March. There were 963,000 new filings for state unemployment benefits in the week ending Aug. 8—a drop of 228,000 claims from...

With Jobless Numbers, 'Recovery Appears to Be Underway'

But debate continues between GOP, Dems on whether to extend unemployment stimulus relief

(Newser) - America has started its economic recovery process, reopening businesses in phases across the nation, and the labor market numbers are beginning to reflect that. Per a Thursday release from the Department of Labor, the number of people drawing unemployment benefits for the week ending May 30 fell to 20.9...

Millions More Join the Ranks of the Unemployed

20% of US workers have filed for unemployment aid

(Newser) - Another 3.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total over seven weeks to 33.5 million—or one in five Americans who were employed as of February, per the AP . Economists had predicted 3 million claims, Reuters reports. The week ending May 2 was the...

Turns Out We Weren't Adding 200K Jobs a Month

Department of Labor revises job gains figures, with 501K fewer than previously estimated

(Newser) - It's not uncommon for the Department of Labor to revise job growth numbers. It actually does so annually, when, instead of using the surveys that help form those initial estimates, it reviews unemployment insurance records in each state to come up with more accurate figures. What is uncommon is...

Report: 200K Jobs Added by US Employers in January

And wage growth is at fastest rate in 8 years

(Newser) - US employers added a robust 200,000 jobs in January, and wages rose at the fastest pace in more than eight years. The pay gains suggest employers are competing more fiercely for workers. Raises stemming from Republican tax cuts and minimum wage increases in 18 states also likely boosted pay....

Trump Announces His New Labor Secretary Pick

It's Alexander Acosta, former NLRB member

(Newser) - A day after Andrew Puzder withdrew his name from consideration as Labor secretary, President Trump has announced his replacement pick, Reuters reports. Trump will nominate Alexander Acosta, who served as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division under former President George W. Bush and has also served as a...

Puzder Withdraws His Nomination as Labor Secretary

His confirmation hearing had been scheduled for Thursday

(Newser) - Andrew Puzder says he is withdrawing as President Donald Trump's nominee for labor secretary. The fast food executive says in a statement provided to the AP that he was "honored to have been considered by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Labor and put America's...

Feds Accuse Oracle of Paying White Men More

And of favoring Asians for tech roles: DOL lawsuit

(Newser) - Oracle provides contracting services for the feds via its cloud computing software, resulting in "hundreds of millions" of dollars in government contracts, per a Labor Department release. That means the tech company has to adhere to federal nondiscriminatory hiring practices, which a DOL lawsuit announced Wednesday says has not...

Obama Hands Trump a 4.7% Unemployment Rate
We Went From 7.8% to 4.7%
Under Obama's Watch
jobs report
Jan 6, 2017 7:55 AM CST

We Went From 7.8% to 4.7% Under Obama's Watch

Rate ticked up slightly in December, as expected

(Newser) - It's the end of an era: The last jobs report that falls fully under President Obama's tenure was issued on Friday, and he'll hand President-elect Donald Trump an economy that boasts a 4.7% unemployment rate. That's a tick up from November's 4.6%, and...

Labor Dept. Wants to Ban Google From Federal Contracts

Feds want tech behemoth to turn over thousands of employee records

(Newser) - The US Labor Department is trying to bar Google from doing business with the federal government unless the internet company turns over confidential information about thousands of its employees, the AP reports. The potential banishment is being sought in a Labor Department lawsuit filed Wednesday with the Office of Administrative...

Jobs Report Stronger Than Expected

Number beats estimates as unemployment rate remains unchanged at 5%

(Newser) - The Labor Department issued a stronger-than-expected jobs report Friday morning: US employers added 292,000 jobs in December, beating expectations and leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 5%. Given that economists were expecting a mark closer to 200,000, the figure represents a "huge round of job creation" to...

New Jobs Data 'All the Ammo' Fed Needs to Raise Rates

Unemployment rate remains at 5%

(Newser) - The Labor Department is out with what CNBC calls "one of the most anticipated unemployment reports of the year"—and its results have analysts more sure than ever that the Fed will raise interest rates later this month. Employers added 211,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment...

Obama Wants 5M More Americans to Get Overtime

His proposal would more than double current salary threshold to $50,440

(Newser) - "Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve." Those are President Obama's words in a Huffington Post op-ed about a proposal he predicts would help up to 5 million workers in 2016: increasing the overtime salary threshold from $23,660...

'Wage Theft' Lawsuits Are on the Rise

Workers say they're not getting their wages

(Newser) - More US workers are joining wage-theft lawsuits that accuse their bosses of failing to pay their proper hours or wages, the New York Times reports. "Sometimes I’d work 60, even 90 days in a row," said a Mexican immigrant who joined a lawsuit against the Schneider trucking...

Jobless Claims Hit Pre-Recession Levels

2.56M people are receiving benefits, a 6-year low

(Newser) - Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, as the number of people collecting jobless aid fell to its lowest level in more than six years. The Labor Department said today that weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000. The four-week average, a less...

Obama Goes It Alone to Expand Overtime Pay

Aims to limit exemption for 'executive or professional' workers

(Newser) - President Obama is acting to ensure overtime for millions of workers who may currently be working the hours without getting the pay. As it stands, workers ranging from fast-food managers to computer experts may be labeled "executive or professional" by their employers; that designation lets their bosses avoid paying...

Unemployment Falls to 7.4%, a 4-Year Low

...but dig deeper and jobs report starts to look pretty bad

(Newser) - Unemployment fell to a 4.5-year low of 7.4% in July, after employers added 162,000 jobs, the Labor Department announced today. But don't celebrate. That 162,000 figure was the lowest since March, and significantly less than analysts were expecting—those surveyed by Bloomberg expected to see...

Want to Really Email Labor Department? That'll Be $1M

AP exposes secret email addresses,

(Newser) - If you want to actually email the bigwigs at the Department of Labor, it'll cost you. Many of Barack Obama's top political appointees are using secret email addresses to cut down on inbox clutter, the AP has discovered. When the AP asked the Labor Department for its share...

Hackers Take Down Labor Dept. Website

Section on health issues down amid probe

(Newser) - Part of the US Department of Labor's website is down amid reports of hacking, reports WUSA9 . "A DOL program appeared to be compromised," the department said in a statement. "The website was immediately taken offline and the Department began working with appropriate internal and external authorities...

Obama to Tap Justice Official for Labor Chief

Thomas Perez leads Justice's Civil Rights Division

(Newser) - Seeking to fill yet another second-term Cabinet vacancy, President Obama is set today to nominate Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general, to be the next secretary of labor, the White House says. If confirmed by the Senate, Perez, who has been head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division...

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