October 19, 2024

Workers

Pew Research - About six-in-ten registered voters who belong to a union (59%) support or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 39% align with the GOP. Like voters overall, union voters are more likely to say Kamala Harris’ policies would make things better for union members than to say this of Donald Trump’s policies... Majorities of adults see decline of union membership as bad for the U.S. and working people.

CNN - A tentative deal has been reached to end the five-week-long strike at troubled aircraft maker Boeing, the union announced to its 33,000 striking members early Saturday. The deal still needs to be ratified by a majority of the rank-and-file membership of the International Association of Machinists before it can take effect and workers can return to work. Rank-and-file already nearly unanimously rejected a previous tentative agreement, precipitating the first strike at the company in 16 years. But the union statement said that the new offer is worthy of being put to the membership for a vote. 

CBS - Although hiring across the U.S. remains robust, some job sectors are positively red-hot. Demand for health care workers — specifically physicians and surgeons — is up 87% compared with February 2020, or just before the pandemic, according to new data from job site Indeed. Hiring for other health care roles, such as mental health therapists as well as and personal care and home health workers, are also up substantially, by 82% and 67%, respectively. 

"No matter how the economy is doing, people are always going to want or need health care," Indeed economist Cory Stahle told CBS MoneyWatch. "It's interesting that we've been seeing this trend for a couple years, and we haven't seen it turn around yet."

By contrast, companies in other sectors that went on hiring sprees during the pandemic have pulled back. Demand for software developers has fallen 31% compared to before the pandemic, while jobs in information design and documentation — roles that are conducive to remote work — have also slumped, Indeed's data shows. 

"They shot up so high during the pandemic when people were working from home, and now they are rebalancing," Stahle said. "It has come down after a hiring spree."

Of the 46 sectors Indeed analyzed, here are the five sectors with the biggest jump in job postings since February 2020:

  • Physicians and surgeons (87%)
  • Therapy (82%)
  • Personal care and home health (67%)
  • Civil engineering (65%)
  • Sports (48%) (includes coaches, personal trainers, physical therapists)

Here are five sectors where job postings on Indeed have fallen sharply compared with just before the pandemic:

  • Software development (-31%)
  • Information design and documentation (-31%)
  • Media and communications (-23%)
  • Mathematics (-23%)
  • Marketing (-22%)

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