U.S. Senator Alex Padilla has proposed legislation that would provide individuals who worked as essential workers during the pandemic with a pathway for citizenship, though the bill does not provide any timeline for the plan.
The state House approved a bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Division to raise its minimum fines, in some cases, by more than 1,000 percent for violating workplace safety rules.
The program is aimed at both union leaders and rank-and-file members and will focus on what unions should do before a walkout, how to prepare financially for going without pay, what to do on the picket line and more.
The city will become the fourth in Kentucky to pass a CROWN ordinance, which blocks the hair discrimination of certain hairstyles, such as braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots, in employment and housing.
A bill proposed by state Democrats would provide assistance to striking workers, despite unemployment benefits historically being restricted to those who lost their jobs through layoffs and corporate downsizing.
A proposal would expand the “ban the box” concept to the private sector, barring most contractors who do business with the city-parish from asking job applicants about their criminal history until late in the hiring process.
Several out-of-state manufacturers in the housing industry have announced plans to move to the state, citing Connecticut’s impressive talent pool of skilled workers. Currently, 162,800 workers have jobs in manufacturing in the state.
While some pandemic-related gaps and inequities in child-care access have been resolved, high cost and low availability continue to strain families across the state, creating barriers for many trying to return to the workforce.
Technical fixes can help, but there are other ways governments can make public service more attractive. Here are four promising approaches.
The Cuyahoga County Council is considering legislation that would bar businesses that have engaged in wage theft or payroll fraud from contracting with the county and will require contractors to undergo ethics training.
While most wealth gaps are part of entrenched racial disparities from generations ago, employee-owned co-ops, like the Atlanta-based Pecan Milk Cooperative, allow employees to build assets within their work.
The share of 16- to 19-year-olds not working is up 22.4 percentage points since 2021. Eleven states have sought to loosen child labor laws to help fill empty positions.
The persistently low salaries of state legislators often discourage citizens from serving in public office, especially as lawmakers face heavier workloads and greater demands on their time than in the past.
The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office predicts that labor market conditions will remain tight through 2025, prompting some employers to turn to foreign workers through federal immigration programs for help.
In 2021, the share of manufacturing employees across the state who were younger than 45 years old was at its highest level in at least a decade, at more than 52 percent. Some hope the negative stereotypes about the industry are changing.
The five states that have the most flexible work policies are liberal, wealthy and mostly coastal, while five Southern states with low union representation and minimal education have the highest percentages of in-person jobs.
