Florida is leading the nation in job growth so far this year.  According to the New York Times, this growth can be traced, in part, to savvy investments by Florida’s large tourism industry, which accounts for 1 in 6 private sector jobs in the Sunshine State.  Hoteliers and other tourist operators made bargain construction outlays during the recession’s nadir, and are succeeding in attracting visitors to these newly built attractions as consumer spending rebounds. 

The Washington Post’s Federal Eye blog reports that two Senate Democrats have introduced a bill that would give federal employees a 3.3% pay raise next year.  The proposed legislation is intended to compensate for the 3 year pay-freeze that ended this year when President Obama ordered a 1% raise for federal workers.   

The Wall Street Journal has released its annual CEO compensation survey, which tracks CEO-pay is 300 large U.S. public firms.  This year, CEO pay rose by a median of 5.5%, with company heads earning a median salary of $11.4 million, about two-third of which is performance based.  The Journal notes this growth outpaced the earnings increase experienced by ordinary workers, whose wages and salaries rose an average of 1.8% last year.

The Journal is also reporting that disputes between labor unions and employers over new costs stemming for various Affordable Care Act mandates are “roiling labor talks nationwide.”  Unions, the journal notes, were early supports of the legislation but have failed to win concessions from the Obama administration on various ACA-related cost increases.