Newsletter Archive for March 2011

Needs of People With Mental Disabilities Is Focus at Hearing

People with mental disabilities continue to experience very low employment rates, but enhanced legal protections along with more support from employers should boost their future workforce participation, witnesses told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission March 15. Read More

Wage Gains Likely to Increase, BNA Index Predicts

Workers in the private sector likely will see higher annual wage increases in the coming months, according to BNA’s revised first-quarter Wage Trend Indicator released March 16.

The index stands at 97.99 (second-quarter 1976 = 100), up from 97.42 in fourth-quarter 2010, marking the third consecutive gain in the forward-looking indicator. Read More

Turnover Up Across All Regions, Most Employment Sectors

A still fragile but improving economy in 2010 and lagging but slowly improving job prospects may be encouraging workers to seek other employment opportunities, as turnover rates increased in all surveyed regions of the country, in nonmanufacturing and nonbusiness concerns, and in midsize organizations of 250 to 999 workers, as well as organizations with 2,500 workers or more. Read More

Government Appeals Court Ruling Invalidating PPACA

The Department of Justice’s notice of appeal told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that it would seek review of the court’s January ruling against the Obama administration on the validity of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Read More

2010 Business Productivity Gain Revised Up to 1.9 Percent

The gain, which followed an increase of 6.5 percent in 2009 that also was revised upward, reflected a 3.6 percent boost in output and a 1.6 percent rise in hours worked. Although output was slightly less than previously reported in 2010, hours were revised down more, resulting in higher productivity. Read More

Annual Average Unemployment Rate Up in 31 States in 2010

The average annual unemployment rate increased in 2010 in 31 states and the District of Columbia, while declining in 18 states, and holding steady in one state, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said Feb. 25. Read More

Was Firing of Female Sales Rep Retaliation?

A female employee worked as a sales representative at a telecommunications company. She was responsible for selling telecommunications equipment to business clients and was primarily a “hunter” whose expertise was finding new clients. Her pay depended in part on commissions and therefore on how many clients she signed or was assigned. But as several account executives left the company during 2007, the employee believed that the company disproportionately reassigned their accounts to a male sales representative, rather than to her. Read More

Initial Weekly Jobless Claims Down

The number of new claims filed with state agencies for unemployment insurance benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 391,000 for the week ending Feb. 19. Read More

GAO Keeps PBGC on List, Of High-Risk Programs

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s uncertain financial future warrants keeping the agency on a list of high-risk programs, according to a report released Feb. 16 by the Government Accountability Office. Read More

Inflation-Adjusted Weekly Earnings Fell 0.2 Percent, BLS Says

The latest decrease, the third in three months, reflects a 0.5 percent increase in average hourly earnings before adjustment for inflation, which was outweighed by a 0.1 hour drop in the average workweek, to 33.4 hours from 33.5 hours in December, and a 0.5 percent increase in BLS’s alternative consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W). Read More