Labor & Economic News Blog

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Who would win and who would lose if the ports shut down

 Who would win and who would lose if the ports shut down
On any given day, up to a dozen ships handle more than $1 billion worth of goods in the mammoth ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest seaport.

 

Port dispute: What you need to know

Port dispute: What you need to know
Shipping companies say West Coast ports, including those in Los Angeles and Long Beach, could shut down if a new contract isn’t reached with dockworkers.

 

Work at West Coast ports to scale back for 4 days

Work at West Coast ports to scale back for 4 days
W est Coast ports — including the nation's busiest in Los Angeles and Long Beach — will partially shut down for four days as shipping companies plan to dramatically slash dock work amid an increasingly contentious labor dispute.

 

Port labor dispute has some local employers looking to cut costs

Port labor dispute has some local employers looking to cut costs
Pacific Play Tents and Stansport Inc., both based in Los Angeles, are facing a tough spring ahead if the slowdown at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continues.

 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have

The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have
Taxpayers are subsidizing ever-larger executive pay packages while their own wages stagnate. For the middle class to prosper, that needs to change.

 

How growing income inequality is hurting Social Security

How growing income inequality is hurting Social Security

How growing income inequality is hurting Social Security With wages stagnant, there’s not as much being paid in payroll taxes as there could be.

 

Friday, February 06, 2015

Employment in California's oil towns suffers as prices plunge

Employment in California's oil towns suffers as prices plunge
Many Californians cheer the rapid fall of gasoline prices. But for those who rely on the oil industry for a paycheck, the last few months have been nerve-wracking. Oil companies have already cut nearly 22,000 jobs nationwide since the summer, when oil prices began plunging, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. And if past price dives are any indication, more layoffs are coming.

 

Private-sector job growth cooled to 213,000 in January, ADP says

Private-sector job growth cooled to 213,000 in January, ADP says
Private-sector hiring cooled last month, with employers adding a still-solid 213,000 net new jobs, payroll firm Automatic Data Processing Inc. said Wednesday.

 

California has big gaps in distribution of high-skill industries

California has big gaps in distribution of high-skill industries
California has one of the nation's largest concentrations of "advanced industry" workers, but a new study points out that the state still faces big challenges in Stockton, Fresno, the Inland Empire and elsewhere.

 

‘Middle-Class Economics Works’

‘Middle-Class Economics Works’
The president laid the groundwork for middle-class economics during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

 

Job Licenses in Spotlight as Uber Rises

Job Licenses in Spotlight as Uber Rises

Regulations for many occupations create bottlenecks in the economy, raise the prices of goods and services and put good jobs out of reach of many Americans.

 

The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave

The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave
Three states are providing real-life experiments on the impact of paid leave on new parents and employers.

 

The Upshot: A Great Jobs Report Across the Board

The Upshot: A Great Jobs Report Across the Board
 The federal government’s January jobs report comes with all the usual caveats. One month does not equal a trend, and the report has lots of standard statistical error that can make it misleading. But it's hard to read the latest report on the state of the job market as anything but excellent news for the American economy and American workers.

 

Amid Gains in Jobs and Pay, Workers Rejoin U.S. Labor Pool

Amid Gains in Jobs and Pay, Workers Rejoin U.S. Labor Pool
The unemployment rate was 5.7 percent as American employers added 257,000 jobs in January, showing that signs of economic momentum late last year carried into 2015.

 

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Minimum wage battles to continue in 2015

Minimum wage battles to continue in 2015
The debate over the minimum wage comes as cities and states across the country enact laws to boost the earnings of the lowest-paid workers amid concerns about widening income inequality. Some 20 states and Washington, D.C., on Thursday raised their minimum wages to $8 to $10 an hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

 

San Francisco passes first-in-nation limits on worker schedules

San Francisco passes first-in-nation limits on worker schedules
San Francisco is now the country’s first jurisdiction to limit how chain stores can alter their employees’ schedules.
Other states and cities are considering similar statutory restraints. Work scheduling rules are therefore poised to follow localized minimum wage increases and paid leave mandates as the newest instance of state and local government stepping in to fill the void left by the decades-long decline of private-sector labor unions.

 

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