Content about Employment

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports this morning that the unemployment rate increased slightly to 8.3%, compared to 8.2% in June. 

Neither the number of unemployed persons – now 12.8 million – nor the unemployment rate has changed much in 2012. 

By a 4-1 vote, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 25, 2012, approved a new guidance on criminal background checks.

Consolidating and superseding previous EEOC guidance on criminal background checks, the guidance discourages blanket exclusions of individuals who have been convicted of crimes and encourages the use of individualized assessments of whether an employer’s criminal conduct exclusion is job related and consistent with business necessity.

The latest employment situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the national unemployment rate slipped to 8.2% for March, compared with 8.3% in February.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 120,000 in March.

According to the bureau, retail trade employment fell by 34,000 in March. A large job loss in general merchandise stores (-32,000) and small losses in other retail industries more than offset gains in health and personal care stores (+6,000).

Data released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor statistics show the unemployment rate for February holding at 8.3%. 

The Employment Situation Summary shows employers added 227,000 jobs in the month, slightly more than expected, according to analyst forecasts. It was also the third straight month that employers added more than 200,000 jobs. 

The 8.3% unemployment rate was unchanged from January, but down from 8.9% in February 2011, and way down from 9.7% in February 2010.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January as the nation's unemployment rate declined to 8.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The better-than-expected jobs report produced an unemployment rate that is down 0.2 percentage points from December and down 0.8 percentage points since August. It's also the lowest rate in almost three years. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday morning reported the lowest national unemployment rate since March 2009. 

The November rate of 8.6% is down 0.4 percentage points from 9.0% in October. A year ago, the unemployment rate stood at 9.8%, according to the bureau.

The employment situation report showed that the private sector added 140,000 jobs, as employment rose in a number of service-providing industries. Government employment continued to trend down.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 103,000 jobs in September, but the unemployment rate stayed at 9.1%.

Construction was one of the areas cited for job gains, according to the employment situation summary, released Friday morning. Other areas were professional and business services and health care. 

An online career website found Home Depot ranked eighth on a list of companies advancing employee happiness.

CareerBliss.com evaluated more than 250,000 company reviews and ratings from employees to create its top 50 list of happiness improvement. Target showed the biggest increase -- up 12.1% to a bliss index of 3.888.

Home Depot ranked eighth on the list, improving 7.964% to a bliss index of 3.772 this year. 

The nation's unemployment rate in May increased to 9.1%, up from 9.0% in April, according to government data released Friday.

The number of unemployed persons remained essentially unchanged at about 13.9 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its latest employment situation summary. Construction employment was essentially unchanged in May. Employment in the industry has shown little movement on net since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the 2007-to-2009 period.

In May 2010, the nation's unemployment rate stood at 9.7%. 

Two recent court cases in California, one involving Home Depot and the other 99 Cents Only Stores, have given employees the right to sue their employers for “suitable seating,” according to summaries of the cases published in Mondaq. 

The unemployment rate dipped from 9.0% in January to 8.9% in February, according to data released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Construction employment grew by 33,000 in February, following a decline of 22,000 in January that may have reflected severe winter weather, according to the bureau. Within construction, specialty trade contractors accounted for the bulk of the February job gain (+28,000).

The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage points to 9.4% in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The government also reported non-farm payroll employment increased by 103,000. Employment rose in leisure and hospitality and in health care, but was little changed in other major industries, according to the Friday morning release. The retail trade showed a gain of 12,000 jobs in December, and it has risen by 495,000 since a recent low in September 2009.