Americans working beyond retirement age has almost doubled since the late 1980s and the wage gap between them and their younger colleagues is shrinking, according to a Pew Research Center report.
Not only are older workers increasing in number, but their earning power has grown in recent decades, according to the Pew report. In 2022, the typical worker age 65 or older earned $22 per hour, up from $13 in 1987. Earnings for younger workers haven’t grown as much. As a result, the wage gap between older workers and those ages 25 to 64 has narrowed significantly.
Several factors come into play:
- Older workers are working more hours, on average, than in previous decades.
- They’re more likely to have a four-year college degree than in the past.
- They’re more likely than in previous decades to be receiving employer-provided benefits such as pension plans and health insurance.
- Older workers are more than twice as likely as younger workers to be self-employed (23% are, compared with 10% of workers ages 25 to 64).
Taking all these factors into account — more older adults in the workforce, working longer hours with higher levels of education and greater pay per hour — older workers’ overall contribution to the labor force has tripled. In 2023, they accounted for 7% of all wages and salaries paid by U.S. employers. That is more than triple the share in 1987 (2%).
Starbucks Wants to Resume Contract Negotiations with Union
Starbucks wants to get back to the bargaining table after a deadlock of more than six months with the union that represents more than 9,000 of its workers, reports The New York Times.
Starbucks said it would like to conduct these meetings without audio or video recording “so that all participants are comfortable with open, honest discussions.” The union has previously fought for the negotiations to be conducted by videoconference so that more members could take part.
Starbucks workers began organizing in 2021 with three Buffalo-area stores. Now more than 350 of the company’s roughly 9,300 corporate-owned stores in the United States are organized. Most recently, workers at more than 200 stores walked out on Nov. 16, which fell on Starbucks’ promotional Red Cup Day.
The union has filed hundreds of charges with the National Labor Relations Board complaining of unfair labor practices, with accusations including unjust firings and withholding certain health care benefits for organized workers. The agency itself has sided with workers in many of those disputes.
UK: Report Calls for New Law on Maximum Indoor Temperature to Stop Workers Overheating
A maximum indoor temperature working law giving people a day off if workplace temperatures surpass 30 C (86 F) should be government-mandated, according to a Guardian report.
The report by the Fabian Society thinktank highlights inequalities in who bears the brunt of the impacts of climate breakdown and puts responsibility on bosses and landlords to stop people from overheating.
The report found “low-paid workers often lack sufficient access to water, cannot escape the heat, and have to wear uniforms or personal protective equipment (PPE) designed for cooler temperatures.” Hospitality and manual workers are most likely to face excessive heat, but also employees in education establishments and offices can suffer if they are working on higher floors or in areas with big windows and poor ventilation. Workers in better-off households are less likely to work in jobs where they are at risk of overheating.
More than 4,500 people died in England in 2022 due to high temperatures, which was the largest figure on record, reported The Guardian. Between 1988 and 2022, almost 52,000 deaths associated with the hottest days were recorded in England, with a third of them occurring since 2016, data from the Office for National Statistics shows. During the same 35-year period analyzed, more than 2,000 people died in Wales due to the warm temperatures.
GM Now Requiring Employees to Spend Three Days in the Office
General Motors Co. is calling workers back to the office, ending chief executive officer Mary Barra’s “Work Appropriately” policy that gave people flexibility to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Bloomberg.
Starting Jan. 8, 2024, employees must commute into GM on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week if they live within 50 miles of a GM office, a spokesperson confirmed. Some top executives live out of state and it will be up to Barra if they have to go in to their offices, the spokesperson said.
Last year, GM mandated people go back in three days a week, but pushback from staff convinced management to allow departments to determine their own policies, with some allowing workers to maintain remote options.
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