Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
The June jobs report was released this morning. There’s coverage here and here. In anticipation of the report, coverage in major papers this week remarked on the economy’s continued slow expansion and the slower-than-last-year jobs growth in the first five months of 2017.
The Department of Labor filed a brief defending most of its fiduciary rule, which was developed during the Obama Administration and partially implemented on June 9. The Department of Labor did not defend the rule’s anti-arbitration condition “[i]n light of the position adopted by the Acting Solicitor General” in NLRB v. Murphy Oil. See some of our previous coverage of the fiduciary rule here.
In Uber news, the New York Times details the mounting evidence that the company deducted far more than it has acknowledged from drivers’ earnings to pay New York State taxes that were supposed to be paid by passengers.
Yesterday, the New York Times had an editorial about stagnating wages and rising income inequality. Citing a recent NBER Working Paper, the editorial explained: “As workers lose ground, inequality deepens, because money that would flow to wages tends to flow instead to those at the top of the income ladder.” The Times argued that “[u]pdated overtime pay standards would raise pay broadly in the service sector, as would closing the gender pay gap, through better disclosure of corporate pay scales, anti-discrimination legislation and litigation.”
The changing U.S. job market also got some attention. The New York Times analyzed “How the Growth of E-Commerce is Shifting Retail Jobs.” And the Washington Post covered a new survey of Americans’ earnings from popular “gig economy” platforms, including Airbnb and Uber.
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November 12
Harvard graduate students go on strike; New York city mayor prepares to negotiate with the city's largest public union; the Trump administration proposes stringent rules for workers seeking benefits.
November 11
MIT grad union avoids strike, Colombian union clashes with Nestlé, and DOL proposes stricter UI requirements.
November 10
The White House nominates new EEOC and FTC commissioners; casino workers at Encore Boston Harbor ratify a new contract ending a two-month strike.
November 9
Democratic gains in Congress likely spell the end of the Protect College Sports Act; IBEW endorses the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.
November 8
Democratic midterm victories at the federal and state level create legislative opportunities for workers and unions.
November 6
Transport Workers Union denounces Amtrak’s new policy permitting passengers to carry guns onboard; Texas Democrat wins offer hope for labor in the state.