AP News (04/30/21) Rugaber, Christopher In the first quarter of the year, wages and benefits for U.S. workers saw a notable increase of 0.9%, marking the largest gain in over 13 years, according to the Labor Department. This uptick suggests that businesses are beginning to offer higher pay to attract employees for newly-available positions. Despite the pandemic’s initial impact on unemployment rates, which soared to
Bloomberg (04/29/21) Pickert, Reade U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter as a rush of consumer spending helped bring total output to the cusp of its pre-pandemic level, foreshadowing further impressive gains in coming months. Gross domestic product expanded at a 6.4% annualized rate following a softer 4.3% pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department’s preliminary estimate showed Thursday. Personal consumption, the biggest
Wall Street Journal (04/27/21) Lucey, Cartherine President Joe Biden today will sign an executive order mandating that federal contractors pay a $15-per-hour minimum wage. Under the order, beginning Jan. 30, 2022, all agencies must include a $15 minimum wage in new contract solicitations. By March 30, 2022, all agencies must implement it into new contracts. Agencies also must incorporate it into existing contracts when they
Associated Press (04/21/21) Rosenberg, Joyce Businesses are having trouble filling the jobs, which in turn hurts their ability to keep up with demand for their products or services. Owners say that some would-be workers are worried about catching Covid-19 or prefer to live off unemployment benefits that are significantly higher amid the pandemic. A Census survey taken in late March shows that 6.3 million did
Business Insider (04/16/21) The pandemic cost millions of Americans their jobs, and while the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 9.7 million of them are actively seeking work, businesses are reporting significant labor shortages. Weekly jobless claims are at a pandemic-era low just this past Thursday, but businesses, particularly in the restaurant and service industries, are still struggling to hire. The National Restaurant Association has found that staffing at
Globe Newswire (04/13/21) Demand for temporary workers in the U.S. is expected to increase 45.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the 2021 second quarter, when compared with the same period in 2020, according to the Palmer Forecast by G. Palmer & Associates. The Palmer Forecast indicated an 8.6% decrease in temporary help for the 2021 first quarter. Actual results as reported by the U.S.
