More people want to switch jobs: The July 2024 SCE Labor Market Survey revealed that the rate of employees transitioning to a new employer has reached its highest level since the survey began, with 7.1% of employed respondents moving to different jobs, up from 5.3% in July 2023. This increase in job switching is largely driven by women, according to the New York Fed. The proportion of job seekers has also surged, with 28.4% of respondents looking for a job in the past four weeks, a substantial increase from 19.4% in July 2023. These movements in the workforce come as employee satisfaction deteriorated over the past year. Satisfaction with wage compensation at current jobs has fallen to 56.7%, down from 59.9% in July 2023. Similarly, satisfaction with non-wage benefits has dropped to 56.3% from 64.9%, while satisfaction with promotion opportunities has declined to 44.2%, down from 53.5% a year ago. "These declines were largest for women, respondents without a college degree, and those with annual household incomes less than $60,000," the New York Federal Reserve said in a media release. Further, the likelihood of working beyond age 62 has risen to 48.3% from 47.7% in July 2023, while the likelihood of working beyond age 67 has climbed to 34.2% from 32% last year. Source: HRD 8/20/24
New workers falling below expectations: The share of workers in the U.S. labor force who are “prime working age” (ages 25-64) has significantly fallen since the mid-1990s, and older workers now make up a greater share of the workforce, according to an Aug. 23 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute. At the same time, the labor force participation rate for ages 65 and older hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels, while the rate for those under age 25 nears record-low levels. The decrease among ages 25-64 has been driven by the smaller number of people in those generations, which means that younger and older workers will need to cover the shortage. So far, workers over 65 have filled the labor force gap, particularly since the share of workers under 25 remains low. By 2023, ages 65 and older made up the largest share of the U.S. population, and ages 16-24 made up the smallest share. Ages 16-19 had a major decline at the beginning of the 2000s. Among U.S. adults between ages 20-54 who are out of the labor force, 72% said either caregiving responsibilities or personal health issues were the main reasons for not seeking work, according to a survey by Artemis Strategy Group and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Source: HR Dive 8/28/24
New benefit for employees – discounted car insurance: More Americans are driving without car insurance, and it’s making coverage more expensive for everyone else. The problem has been growing since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Insurance Research Council, whose latest data show the percentage of uninsured drivers rose to 14% in 2022, from about 11% in 2019. The IRC, which calculates the data based on the relative frequencies of auto-insurance claims, expects the numbers to continue to climb. Washington, D.C., New Mexico and Mississippi are among the jurisdictions with the highest share of uninsured motorists, the IRC says. Washington has recorded almost 19,000 uninsured vehicles since 2021, according to a spokesperson at the district’s department of motor vehicles. In Ohio—ranked 10th on the list—the number of noncompliance suspensions increased 16% between 2020 and 2023, according to the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Such infractions occur when a driver fails to show proof of insurance at a traffic stop or after an accident. J.D. Power, which bases its research on consumer surveys, sees a similar trend and says the percentage of uninsured drivers increased in the first half of this year. Opportunity for employers to be creative with benefits? Source: The Wall Street Journal 7/25/24
FDIC relaxes hiring background rules: On July 30, 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Board of Directors approved a final rule that updates the FDIC’s regulations concerning Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, 12 U.S.C.§ 1829 (“Section 19”) to conform to the Fair Hiring in Banking Act, which became effective on December 23, 2022 and made significant changes to Section 19. The final rule is effective October 1, 2024. Section 19 prohibits a person convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering, or who has agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion or similar program in connection with a prosecution for such an offense, from directly or indirectly participating in the affairs of an FDIC-insured depository institution without prior written consent from the FDIC. Insured depository institutions may not permit any such person to engage in any conduct or continue any relationship prohibited by Section 19. Source: Littler 9/6/24
Illinois limits liability to its Biometric Information Privacy Act: On August 2, 2024, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 2979 (the "Amendment"), implementing long-awaited, highly anticipated reform to the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The focus of the Amendment is a limitation on the number of violations an individual can accumulate under BIPA. Prior to the Amendment, employees who used biometric technology in the workplace could claim that a separate violation of BIPA occurred each time they used the biometric solution. For example, if an employee used a timeclock that scans a fingerprint, palm or iris without having previously executed a BIPA-compliant release, they could recover separate damages for each and every scan. Now, employees who file a BIPA lawsuit against their employer will be limited to one claim under each section of the statute. The Amendment is a direct response to the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling in Cothron v. White Castle Systems, 216 N.E.3d 918 (Ill. 2023), that each instance of unauthorized collection, storage, and/or use of biometric information without proper consent results in separate "per scan" damages. With the Amendment, multiple alleged collections of an individual's biometric data constitute a single violation, limited to one recovery. Source: Littler 8/8/24