- DOL Report: U.S. Labor Market Showed Resilience Amid Tariff Concerns
- Report: 57% of Working Moms Delayed Having Children Due to Work
- Starbucks Union Rejects Company’s 2% Annual Raise Guarantee
- Nevada’s New Heat Illness Standards for Workplace Safety Take Effect
- UPS to Cut 20,000 Jobs, 70+ Facilities
DOL Report: U.S. Labor Market Showed Resilience Amid Tariff Concerns
The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, surprisingly above the 133,000 that Dow Jones economists had anticipated, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%. This is according to the new Employment Situation Summary, released Friday, May 2, by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The April jobs figure was below the 228,000 jobs added in March. However, many economists had predicted a steeper month-over-month drop based on concerns over the impact of President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs against U.S. trading partners.
Healthcare, transportation and warehousing, financial, and social assistance were among the industry sectors showing strength and fueling the optimism in the April numbers, while federal hiring continued to decline following cost-cutting layoffs.
In April, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $36.06. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.8%. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 10 cents, or 0.3%, to $31.06.
The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 34.3 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek edged down by 0.2 hour to 40.0 hours, and overtime was unchanged at 2.9 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.
With the unemployment rate remaining at 4.2%, joblessness has now remained in a narrow range of 4.0% to 4.2% for 12 consecutive months. The number of unemployed people, at 7.2 million, changed little last month.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0%), adult women (3.7%), teenagers (12.9%), Whites (3.8%), Blacks (6.3%), Asians (3.0%) and Hispanics (5.2%) showed little or no change over the month.
Report: 57% of Working Moms Delayed Having Children Due to Work
Motherhood can come with a career cost, according to Zety’s Motherhood and Work Impact Report.
The career-builder website surveyed almost 900 working mothers across the U.S. and found:
- 57% postponed having a child due to career considerations.
- 50% chose to stop at one child due to work challenges, while 37% delayed having more children for the same reason.
Working mothers also shared in the survey:
- 87% have taken a career break due to having children.
- 87% also believe becoming a mother has negatively impacted their career, as they missed out on promotions and other growth opportunities.
- 66% say their workload has increased.
- 59% changed careers entirely, while 31% made adjustments such as switching to a more flexible job or reducing hours.
“The experiences shared by working mothers in this report highlight a deeper issue: Many workplaces are still designed around outdated expectations of who a ‘committed’ employee should be,” said Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at Zety. “Until policies and cultures evolve to recognize caregiving as a strength — not a setback — talented professionals will continue to be sidelined for choosing parenthood.”
Starbucks Union Rejects Company’s 2% Annual Raise Guarantee
As reported by Reuters, Starbucks union delegates have voted to reject the company’s latest contract proposal, which organizers said fell short by only guaranteeing annual raises of at least 2%.
Out of the 490 baristas representing the coffee chain’s more than 550 unionized U.S. stores, 81% rejected the proposal, which did not offer any changes to economic benefits such as healthcare or any immediate pay hike.
According to Reuters, the company currently pays its baristas more than $19 an hour, on average, which with benefits comes to about $30 an hour.
Both parties have been in contract negotiations in recent weeks after agreeing to bring in a mediator to help resume stalled negotiations in February.
Since then, they have reached tentative agreements on many key contract issues, such as health and safety measures, but the latest offer was “not good enough,” according to Workers United, which represents more than 10,000 baristas.
Nevada’s New Heat Illness Standards for Workplace Safety Take Effect
On April 29, the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA Nevada) began enforcing its newly adopted heat illness prevention regulation.
According to news reports, the regulations from OSHA Nevada require businesses with more than 10 employees to conduct a one-time hazard analysis of their working conditions. If a risk is found, businesses will need to create a written safety program that includes plans for the provision of potable water, a rest break area if employees show signs of heat illness and a means of cooling.
Nevada joins six other states with heat illness regulations: California, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.
UPS to Cut 20,000 Jobs, 70+ Facilities
UPS is looking to cut about 20,000 jobs this year and close more than 70 facilities by the end of June as it drastically reduces the amount of Amazon shipments it handles, according to the Associated Press.
In January, the package delivery company announced it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.
“The actions we are taking to reconfigure our network and reduce cost across our business could not be timelier,” UPS CEO Carol Tomé said in a statement. “The macro-environment may be uncertain, but with our actions, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS.”
The Associated Press reported UPS currently has approximately 490,000 workers.
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