Workers

USA Facts - Job openings outnumbered unemployed people in the US from May 2021 to December 2023. Does this mean there’s a labor shortage? And what does this mean for the labor force participation rate?  The nation had 9.03 million job openings in December 2023, or 2.76 million more open jobs than unemployed people. Still, that’s down 20% from a year prior. This was 5.4% of all nonfarm jobs in the country....

• Labor force participation, a measure of the total labor force, remained between 62% and 63% for most of 2023. For comparison, the rate dropped to 60.1% in April 2020. 
•  The healthcare and social assistance industry had the highest percentage of open jobs: 7.7%.  
•  The US unemployment rate remained between 3.4% and 3.8% from February 2022 through January 2024. The nation had 6.12 million unemployed people in January — 3.7% of the workforce. Get more details on the US labor market here.

Robert Reich - Trump’s tax giveaway added $2 trillion+ to the deficit. Making them permanent would cost $3 trillion. More than 60% of the benefits would go to the richest 20%. He’s now eyeing a second round of corporate tax cuts. Does that sound like a champion of the working class to you?

Guardian - Upset by the surge in union drives, several of the best-known corporations in the US are seeking to cripple the country’s top labor watchdog, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), by having it declared unconstitutional. Some labor experts warn that if those efforts succeed, US labor relations might return to “the law of the jungle”. In recent weeks, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have filed legal papers that advance novel arguments aimed at hobbling and perhaps shutting down the NLRB – the federal agency that enforces labor rights and oversees unionization efforts. Those companies are eager to thwart the NLRB after it accused Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s of breaking the law in battling against unionization and accused SpaceX of illegally firing eight workers for criticizing Musk.