Posts tagged 'unemployment'

February 17, 2011

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EEOC Targets Job Ads Excluding Unemployed

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held hearings yesterday (Feb. 15, 2011) into the causes and consequences of a recent trend in hiring—the unemployed need not apply. Phrases such as "no unemployed candidates will be considered" and "must be currently employed" are now peppering job postings and want ads. This has the EEOC concerned that such policies l...

May 5, 2009

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Spain’s Unemployment Offers Economic Warning

Europe Spain unemployment

Actually, I'm not referring to the level of unemployment when I say "Peering into Our Future." If you follow Shadow Stats, you'll know that we've already gone well past that figure (into the 20-percent range). What I'm referring to is the black market that developed in response to the recession, which has become a major source of income for the unemployed. Also, a spate of labor laws make it ...

April 20, 2009

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Employment Increases in D.C.--and North Dakota?

North Dakota unemployment

One can easily understand how employment continues to rise in Washington, D.C., even as every other state in the union continues to stay even (three states) or lose workers to unemployment (the rest save one), but the Peace Garden State (aka Flickertail State and Roughrider State)? Yup, North Dakota has evidently managed to live both frugally and well to survive and prosper in our current econ...

January 28, 2009

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Unemployment Nearing 20 Percent If You Count Everyone

unemployed unemployment unemployment rate

Okay, forget the official figure of 7.2 percent that the media quote for U.S. unemployment. As the accompanying graphic from Shadow Stats shows, what the media report is called the U3 unemployment rate--the officially unemployed shown on the bottom red line. When you add in "discouraged" and "marginally attached" workers, you get the middle line on the graph, which is trending toward 14 percen...

January 17, 2009

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Are New Minimum Wages Fueling Layoffs?

layoffs minimum wage unemployment

Many have argued that minimum wage laws price certain people out of the job market skill-wise and also lead to layoffs as small businesses cope with their finances and the added burden of higher wages. In this light, it's notable that fully 40 percent of the 693,000 who lost their jobs in the latest ADP report (November-December 2008) were from small businesses. Arthur Bruzzone, a former Cali...

January 13, 2009

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New Perspectives on the Unemployed

unemployed unemployment

I ran across a blog posting today by someone named Chef Sheila, but it appears as if the article itself was done by someone else judging by the first paragraph that praises "this journalist's informative piece" (unless she's vainly referring to and complimenting herself). Be that as it may, the piece is called "Meltdown 101: Unemployment by the numbers," and it starts off by factoring in categ...

December 29, 2008

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Nice Gig if You Can Get It

unemployment unemployment insurance

Here's something I just learned. I generally don't pay much attention to unemployment insurance law since I don't qualify for it, but some people have been pretty smart at gaming the system. To wit: Under federal unemployment rules that are being changed Jan. 6, 2009, a worker who drew wages from jobs in two or more states could choose ANY STATE from which to claim the benefits. The smart one...

December 11, 2008

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The Immaculate Recession: Men Feel the Most Pain

recession unemployment

I call it "The Immaculate Recession" because our current turmoil seems to be solidifying what should've been obvious a long ago:Â We are no longer an Industrial Revolution economy; we're the Information Age economy, and in that area, we still lead the world. That's why, when one surveys the pain going around in 2008, it's illustrative that 1.1 million men have lost their jobs this year while ...

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U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules

On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...

NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog

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Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data

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DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws

In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...

DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.

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