Labor Department

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to ban noncompete agreements, a decades-old vehicle that has prevented untold millions of employees from working for a competitor or starting their own competing businesses after leaving a job. The... Read More

WASHINGTON — With exploitation on the rise and Republican lawmakers in some states rolling back protections, the Biden administration is stepping up its efforts to combat child labor violations. Labor Department officials say there has been a dramatic increase in... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week as the U.S. job market remains robust despite four-decade high inflation and a myriad of other economic pressures. Applications for jobless aid for the week ending June 18 fell... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added 428,000 jobs in April, extending a streak of solid hiring that has defied punishing inflation, chronic supply shortages, the Russian war against Ukraine and much higher borrowing costs. Friday’s jobs report from the Labor... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, another gain that underscored the economy’s solid health as the omicron wave fades and more Americans venture out to spend at restaurants, shops and hotels despite surging inflation.... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week reflecting a low number of layoffs across the economy. Jobless claims fell by 18,000 to 215,000 for the week ending February 26, from 233,000 the previous week, the Labor... Read More

CULPEPER COUNTY, Va. — President Joe Biden traveled to Culpeper County, Virginia, Thursday delivering remarks intended to revive provisions of his now moribund Build Back Better agenda related to lowering health care costs and, particularly, prescription drug prices. Mindful of... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a burst of 467,000 jobs in January despite a wave of omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed. The Labor Department's... Read More

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday the Department of Labor set new limits on the amount of time employers can use tipped-employees to do non-tip-producing work.  The new ruling, implemented at a time of nation-wide labor shortages, comes via a clarification of... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — One reason America's employers are having trouble filling jobs was starkly illustrated in a report Tuesday: Americans are quitting in droves.  The Labor Department said that quits jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 194,000 jobs in September, a second straight tepid gain and evidence that the pandemic still has a grip on the economy with many companies struggling to fill millions of open jobs.  Friday's report... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week, a sign that the highly contagious delta variant may be slowing the job market's recovery. Claims rose by 11,000 last week to 362,000,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. employment grew by 235,000 jobs and the unemployment rate declined to 5.2% in August, but that 0.2% decrease still leaves 8.4 million Americans unemployed. The 235,000 growth spurt highlighted in the Labor Department’s August Employment Situation... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to a pandemic low 340,000, a sign the economy continues to improve, the Labor Department said Thursday. The number of claims declined by 14,000, as vaccinations for COVID-19... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted a record 10.1 million job openings in June, another sign that the job market and economy are bouncing back briskly from last year's coronavirus shutdowns. Job openings rose from 9.5 million in May, the... Read More

Employers added 943,000 jobs in July and drove the unemployment rate down by 5.4%, with leisure and hospitality, local government, education and business services leading in the hiring, the Labor Department said Friday. In remarks delivered at the White House,... Read More

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The eruption of COVID-19 last year caused the proportion of people working from home in the U.S. to nearly double, with the shift most pronounced among college graduates and workers in such fields as finance and... Read More

The Labor Department has made $1.5 million available to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to develop partnerships with community-based organizations and other non-profits seeking to empower women workers by strengthening their... Read More

When James Reidy worked at the Labor Department in the 1980s, processing worker compensation claims from asbestos exposure in shipyards, he found that many of the cases stalled over the question of causation. The workers had been exposed to asbestos... Read More

The U.S. added a solid 916,000 jobs last month -- far surpassing an expected increase of 675,000 jobs -- and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. The new numbers come after the economy added... Read More

WASHINGTON - If 94% of individuals completing a Registered Apprenticeship program through the Department of Labor are retained by their employers, U.S. Navy Officer Michael Pruitt asked yesterday, why are there not more veterans or transitioning military service members taking... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Department of Labor’s apprenticeship programs benefit individuals seeking to master skills while gainfully employed, and provides employers with the talent needed to fill the current workforce shortage, according to two Congressmen yesterday. Apprenticeships differ from paid internships... Read More

WASHINGTON — The number of unemployment claims filed last week fell to 900,000, a number that remains historically high and suggests the economy still has a long way to go before it fully recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers shed jobs last month for the first time since April, cutting 140,00 positions, clear evidence that the economy is faltering as the viral pandemic tightens its grip on consumers and businesses. At the same time,... Read More

Applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits unexpectedly jumped to the highest level in three months, suggesting the labor market’s recovery is faltering amid the surge in COVID-19 cases and widening business restrictions. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs rose... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers scaled back their hiring last month as the viral pandemic accelerated across the country, adding 245,000 jobs, the fewest since April and the fifth straight monthly slowdown. At the same time, the unemployment rate to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Employers added 638,000 jobs in the month of October, pushing the national unemployment rate down to 6.9%, the Labor Department reported Friday. But Congressional Democrats noted the pace of renewed hiring isn't nearly enough to quickly get the... Read More

U.S. unemployment claims figures gave a mixed picture of the labor market amid government changes to seasonal adjustments to account for distortions from the pandemic. Initial jobless claims in state programs totaled 881,000 in the week ended Aug. 29, according... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began. Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said, down from... Read More

WASHINGTON — Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest since March, offering a ray of hope for an economy still battered by the pandemic. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs fell by 249,000 to... Read More