Workforce
State and local governments face a tight labor market and a competitive disadvantage with the private sector. But salaries aren’t the only issue, with cities, counties and states all grappling with training, retention, remote work and increased union activity.
The right policies can help more regions take advantage of AI for economic growth and prepare against some of its harms, according to a new report.
Federal workers are worried that they will be forced to return to work before health precautions have been implemented. Government agencies are using different approaches to reopening their offices.
Because some unemployment insurance cases require human intervention, even states with updated technology can barely keep up with the surge of unemployment insurance claims caused by COVID-19.
Every state is at least partially reopened, but layoffs persist across the nation and unemployment continues to rise. Even as many are returning to work, they may still struggle to make ends meet.
The state’s computer crashed Monday when workers flooded the system with requests for relief. Immigrants could apply for a one-time payment of $500 per individual or $1,000 per household.
Washington state halted unemployment payments for two days as they tried to block $1.6 million of fraudulent claims. While the state has not been ravaged by unemployment, about 1 million unemployed workers still seek aid.
Unprecedented. The word has taken on the quality of ubiquity in the COVID-19 era. It signals in part that some things are changing everything — the Internet that allows work to be virtual and done anywhere; a suite of permanent coronavirus precautions that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago; and the prospect of what Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer calls the “Greater Depression” because of its anticipated depth, breadth and length. Against all that, you just want to go back to work at the office. You miss seeing your colleagues and the chance conversations that help solve problems, and even the goodies left in the breakroom. After eight weeks of being “safe at home,” getting back to the workplace sounds good — but don’t bet on it.
A Tennessee Congressman hopes to stop the Tennessee Valley Authority from outsourcing 108 of its IT jobs to foreign companies. “It is incomprehensible that TVA would outsource jobs held by hard-working Americans.”
The social media giant will keep its employees working from home until September. After that it will reopen its ‘warm and welcoming’ offices to those employees who want to, or must, return.
Despite some hurdles, government through remote work is performing better than expected. It will likely lead to permanent changes in everything from labor management and technology to physical footprints.
The coronavirus has revolutionized how Americans work and those changes could be permanent. For many organizations, this coronavirus-caused shift to working from home could be a welcome excuse for change.
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As workers slowly begin returning to work after shelter-in-place orders are lifted, employers will have to make adjustments to ensure worker safety, like new office configurations and more remote workers.
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Forced to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, government agencies are discovering that collaboration on the budget is difficult. What can they do to prepare their budgets remotely and plan for the evolving crisis?
California’s outdated and broken unemployment system has been an issue since the Great Recession. The department is still processing claims but it’s slow and frustrating for officials and residents.
Only public institutions can cope with an emergency like the coronavirus. Despite intensifying budget pressures, we must rebuild the capacity to respond to the needs of the future.
This period of forced remote work has radically changed how many businesses operate. Post pandemic, many companies will likely adapt parts of working remotely to save money and boost employee morale.
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Innovative technology enables state Department of Labor and Training to rapidly scale services for residents impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seattle’s tech industry relies on foreign workers. It is growing increasingly nervous about Trump’s next steps after he suspended all company-sponsored green card applications for the next 60 days. “Those particular jobs are super critical.”
Many companies had been resistant to employees working from home, but the coronavirus pandemic has shown that it’s very feasible and functional. Working from home has great benefits and should be continued post-pandemic.
Thousands of Floridians are desperately waiting for their unemployment benefits as the state’s system falls further behind. The state hopes to process 80,000 claims this week, though the backlog is more than 560,000.
The current public health crisis has complicated the relationship between an employer’s need to know and an employee’s patient privacy. “I’m sure that in some of these cases, we’ll see litigation out of this crisis.”
Gig workers are largely ineligible for company unemployment assistance and health care which means many continue working despite virus-like symptoms. Some sick workers keep going because, “what would these people do if I didn’t do it?”
New Jersey’s system was written in a software language created in the 1950s and it can’t handle the large influx of unemployment claims. The problems heighten calls for a complete system rewrite.
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry says that about half of the recent million or more recent claims filed so far have been paid. “We will take care of everyone’s concerns.”
As unemployment claims continue to spike, the Labor Department’s website couldn’t handle the huge increase in volume. “We are going to work to make sure people get the unemployment that they need to get through this crisis.”
Instacart shoppers want health protections and extra pay while they work during the coronavirus outbreak, but the workers are all independent contractors. If they strike, they don’t get paid.
While many businesses are making financial cuts, some Silicon Valley companies have benefited from the online and remote shift, especially those that favor online interactions, purchasing and education.
According to Washington state’s Employment Security Department 133,464 residents filed for unemployment last week, five times greater than any week during the Great Recession, and the influx is creating tech issues.
The employees that work in a field that has been deemed “essential” stil have to go to work every day. How is “essential work” determined and what are the risks for those that are working normally?
