News & Commentary

January 18, 2017

Lauren Godles

Lauren Godles is a student at Harvard Law School.

The confirmation hearing for Andrew Puzder, the President-Elect’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, has been scheduled for February 2. The hearing was initially set to happen yesterday, but was delayed due to a conflict with the hearing for Betsy DeVos, which did go forward last night. In the meantime, Puzder may be having second thoughts about the position, though he tweeted on Monday that he looks forward to the hearing. Read more about the nominee here.

With President Obama’s Overtime Rule frozen in federal court and likely doomed by the incoming administration, Democrats are planning to introduce similar measures at the state level, beginning with Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Creating a state-by-state patchwork of benefits will be an uphill battle for Democrats, who control state legislatures and the governorship in just six states. But Michigan’s Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich says that it’s at least “worth a fight.”

Why are unemployed men in America not flocking to fast-growing jobs in health care? It turns out the job descriptions for these positions may be “too feminine” for them, reports the New York Times. A study by Textio, which analyzed 50 million job postings, revealed that, of the top 14 fastest-growing jobs from 2014 to 2024, 10 of them use language that displays a “feminine bias.” These postings, mostly for various types of health aide positions, use words such as “sympathetic, care, fosters, empathy and families.” The study suggests employers would do well to combat the bias, because gender-neutral job postings lead to positions being filled 14 days faster and attract more diverse candidates.

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