U.S. Government Manual 2008-2009 Edition: Department of Labor

[Excerpt] The purpose of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws guaranteeing workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions, a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay, freedom from employment discrimination, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. The Department also protects workers’ retirement and health care benefits; provides for job training programs; helps workers find jobs; works to strengthen free collective bargaining; and keeps track of changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. As the Department seeks to assist all Americans who need and want to work, special efforts are made to meet the unique job market problems of older workers, youths, minority group members, women, individuals with disabilities, and other groups

Major Functions of the U.S. Department of Labor

[Excerpt] The Department of Labor (DOL) was created in 1913 by “An Act to create a Department of Labor” (P.L. 62-426). Its purpose was “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.” P.L. 62-426 initially authorized a new mediation service and four pre-existing bureaus. Numerous laws since 1913 have added program and enforcement responsibilities to DOL such that it is now comprised of multiple entities that provide services related to worker protection, income support, workforce development, and labor statistics. DOL administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws

Business students\u27 personal branding: An empirical investigation

Personal branding is the process by which an individual actively tries to manage others’ impression of their skills, abilities and experiences (Johnson, 2017). It is the marketing of oneself to society (Lair, Sullivan, & Cheney, 2005; Peters, 1997; Shepherd, 2005). While the current job market is touted as being the best in years, employment opportunities for business aspirants in the U.S. economy changed little from 2017 to 2016 when comparing a United States Department of Labor annual report (“United States Department of Labor,” 2018). This suggests that new business graduates continue to face the harsh reality of a challenging environment in terms of future employment prospects. This accentuates a great need for business schools to arm students with the personal branding skills requisite for today’s competitive employment landscape

Immigration of Foreign Workers: Labor Tests and Protections

[Excerpt] Economic indicators confirm that the U.S. economy sunk into a recession in December 2007. Although some economic indicators suggest that growth has resumed, unemployment remains high and is projected to remain so for some time. Historically, international migration ebbs during economic crises; for example, immigration to the United States was at its lowest levels during the Great Depression. While preliminary statistical trends hint at a slowing of migration pressures, it remains unclear how the current economic recession will affect immigration. Addressing these contentious policy reforms against the backdrop of economic crisis sharpens the social and business cleavages and narrows the range of options. Some employers maintain that they continue to need the “best and the brightest” workers, regardless of their country of birth, to remain competitive in a worldwide market and to keep their firms in the United States. While support for increasing employment-based immigration may be dampened by the high levels of unemployment, proponents argue that the ability to hire foreign workers is an essential ingredient for economic growth. Those opposing increases in foreign workers assert that such expansions—particularly during a period of high unemployment—would have a deleterious effect on salaries, compensation, and working conditions of U.S. workers. Others question whether the United States should continue to issue foreign worker visas (particularly temporary visas) during a recession and suggest that a moratorium on such visas might be prudent. The number of foreign workers entering the United States legally has notably increased over the past decade. The number of employment-based legal permanent residents (LPRs) grew from under 100,000 in FY1994 to over 250,000 in FY2005, and stood at 166,511 in 2008. The number of visas issued to employment-based temporary non-immigrants rose from just under 600,000 in FY1994 to approximately 1.3 million in FY2007. In FY2009, the number of visas issued to employment-based temporary nonimmigrants dropped slightly to 1.1 million. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) bars the admission of any alien who seeks to enter the U.S. to perform skilled or unskilled labor, unless it is determined that (1) there are not sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available; and (2) the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers in the United States. The foreign labor certification program in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is responsible for ensuring that foreign workers do not displace or adversely affect working conditions of U.S. workers. The 111th Congress has addressed one element of the labor market test for foreign workers issue in §1611 of P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which requires companies receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding to comply with the more rigorous labor market rules of H-1B dependent companies if they hire foreign workers on H-1B visas. Also, §524 of division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117) authorized the Department of Labor to use its share of the H-1B, H-2B, and L Fraud Prevention and Detection fees to conduct wage and hour enforcement of industries more likely to employ any type of nonimmigrants (not just H-1B, H-2B or L visaholders). This report does not track legislation and will be updated if policies are revised

Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

[Excerpt] According to the estimates by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), some 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States in 2012.1 The Pew Research Center’s unauthorized alien population estimate for 2012 was 11.2 million, which included some 8.1 million unauthorized workers in the U.S. civilian workforce.2 It is widely believed that most unauthorized aliens enter and remain in the United States in order to work. Six years ago, in 2009, DHS issued new guidance on immigration-related worksite enforcement—the enforcement of prohibitions on the employment of unauthorized aliens in the United States. In the words of DHS at the time, the 2009 guidance “reflects a renewed Department-wide focus targeting criminal aliens and employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking the country’s laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers.”3 Under this guidance, promoting compliance also has taken on a larger role in DHS’s worksite enforcements efforts. Questions arise as to how rigorous and effective DHS’s worksite enforcement efforts are and have been in past years. The department maintains data on several measures that can be used to examine the performance of its worksite enforcement program. Enforcement activity by the Department of Labor (DOL) is also relevant to a discussion of federal efforts to address unauthorized employment. DOL, which is responsible for enforcing minimum wage, overtime pay, and related requirements, focuses a significant percentage of its enforcement resources on low-wage industries that employ large numbers of immigrant—and presumably large numbers of unauthorized—workers

Immigration-Related Worksite Enforcement: Performance Measures

[Excerpt] In the spring of 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new guidance on immigration-related worksite enforcement—the enforcement of prohibitions on the employment of unauthorized aliens in the United States. In the words of DHS, the updated guidance “reflects a renewed Department-wide focus targeting criminal aliens and employers who cultivate illegal workplaces by breaking the country’s laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers.” According to 2008 estimates, there are some 8.3 million unauthorized workers in the U.S. civilian workforce. Questions arise as to how rigorous and effective DHS’s worksite enforcement efforts have been under the Obama Administration and in past years. The department maintains data on several measures that can be used to examine the performance of its worksite enforcement program. Enforcement activity by the Department of Labor (DOL) is also relevant to a discussion of federal efforts to address unauthorized employment. DOL, which is responsible for enforcing minimum wage, overtime pay, and related requirements, focuses a significant percentage of its enforcement resources on a group of low-wage industries that employ large numbers of immigrant—and presumably large numbers of unauthorized—workers

Fact Sheet: Jobs in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (2014)

This fact sheet focuses on employment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in the United States and around the world. The job figures cited below are sourced from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS), as well as international organizations, national non-profits, think tanks and national trade associations

Accessing Healthcare in the Intermountain West During the Age of Precarious Labor

This research aims to improve our understanding about the association between precarious employment and healthcare access. Using the framework of neoliberalism and the history of welfare reform in the United States, this thesis investigates the relationship between precarious labor and two outcomes associated with health insurance access, namely Medicaid utilization, and being uninsured. I also examine one potential consequence of Medicaid utilization and lack of insurance, having a usual place of health care in the context of the Intermountain West region of the United States. Using new survey data and quantitative methodologies, this research shows how economic changes, particularly related to labor, impacts healthcare access. The results show that changes in the labor economy are impacting citizens in important ways, including limiting their access to health care. This research is important for understanding how the political economy is changing in the United States and is re-shaping health care access, or the lack thereof, among workers with non-traditional employment arrangements. Having a better understanding of how neoliberal policies are impacting healthcare access is beneficial for informing policy makers of the the negative consequences of those policies. It also increases our understanding of the direction the political economy is heading in terms of labor and healthcare. This research was made possible through the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station which funded ongoing research in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology of Utah State University and did not require additional funding to be completed

Current child Care Strategies of Twenty-Five states and Summary Recommendations for Future Child Care Services in Utah based on Recommendations from the Governor\u27s Task Force on Child Care

Social and employment changes have occurred in the United States over the past twenty years that have had a drastic impact on the traditional American family. Americans now live in an era of inflation and economic change in which a second family income is often a necessity just to maintain.an adequate standard of living. Mothers\u27 are no longer waiting until their youngest child enters elementary school to enter or re-enter the labor force. By 1985, 57% of mothers\u27 of children under the age of six were in the labor force, whereas in 1950, only 12% were employed (Department of Labor, 1988)

Surveying Job Vacancies in Local Labor Markets: A How-To Manual, prepared for the US Department of Labor

The Employment and Training Institute prepared this manual on how to conduct job vacancy surveys was prepared under contract with the Employment and Training Administration of the United States Department of Labor (#X-6752-8-00-80-60) so that state and local policy makers can benefit from the experience of the Milwaukee project and previous job openings surveys conducted in the United States and other countries. Job vacancy survey design, sampling, methodology, weighting, survey administration, data verification and data analyses issues are described in detail in this manual. ETI has conducted job vacancy surveys twice annually since May 1993 for use in program planning, training and policy analysis. The surveys grew out of the interest of local governments and schools in job availability data at the local level. The surveys are funded by the local governmental partners (the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee Public Schools, the Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and the Helen Bader Foundation, the Milwaukee Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development