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Long-awaited wage growth posted its biggest increase of the economic recovery in August while payroll gains beat expectations and the unemployment rate held near a generational low of 3.9 percent, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Average hourly earnings rose 2.9 percent for the month on an annualized basis, while nonfarm payrolls grew by 201,000. Economists surveyed by Reuters had been expecting earnings to rise 2.7 percent, payrolls to increase by 191,000 and the jobless level to decline one-tenth of a point to 3.8 percent.

Some big ideas are starting to percolate. But less dramatic ones might work, too.

America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paid

The conservative justices seem prepared to decide Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, a case that could harm public sector unions, without so much as a factual record.

Berlin Mayor Michael Müller has called for an end to the controversial Hartz IV welfare system, saying that every jobless Berliner should have the right to a basic income. The Social Democrat (SPD) politician told the Berliner Morgenpost that he wants to see an overhaul of the welfare system, with Hartz IV to be replaced by a “solidary basic income” model. Hartz IV was one of the biggest components of the major labour market reform, which was adopted in the mid-2000s by the then red-green federal government under Gerhard Schröder (SPD).

Caracas resident Barbara Rojas used to have a coveted position at Venezuela's state-run oil company, the kind of job that not so long ago people would hang on to until retirement due to the generous pay and benefits. But in February, Rojas quit her job as an office administrator. She was disgusted that hyperinflation and the collapse of Venezuela's currency had rendered her wages nearly worthless. Rojas points out that nearly half of the 149 people in her office have walked off the job.

A new analysis about Uber drivers’ wages finds that they take home about $9.21 an hour, or less than minimum wage in many of the biggest markets where the ride-hailing service operates. The analysis, by the pro-labor think tank Economic Policy Institute, builds on a recent MIT study that at first said that Uber drivers made an average of $3.37 an hour, then revised that figure to a median $8.55 an hour.

The jobs market has reached what should be some kind of inflection point: there are now more openings than there are workers. April marked the second month in a row this historic event has occurred, and the gap is growing. According to the monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday, there were just shy of 6.7 million open positions in April, the most recent month for which data are available. That represented an increase of 65,000 from March and is a record.

A journalist argues the new climate has led to people without things like unemployment insurance, retirement savings and a feeling of security.

Pay is rising much faster for the top 1% of earners compared with those on average salaries in the richest countries, according to a report calling on governments to do more to tackle “wageless growth” since the financial crisis. Despite more people being in work than at any time since the onset of the banking crisis a decade ago, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said wage growth was still “missing in action” across the 35 countries represented by the Paris-based group of wealthy nations.

The latest expressive headlines on delfi.lt (the main Lithuanian news portal) such as “Gender pay gap increased in Lithuania”, “Sudden drop in EU support pushes Lithuania into middle income trap, finmin says”, “Lithuanian travellers spent EUR 186.5 mln abroad this year” and “Lithuania’s Jan-May budget revenue EUR 14.3 mln below target” clearly demonstrate difficult situation in the country. The only positive thing in this fact is Lithuanian authorities do not…

Millions of "just about managing" families are no better off today than those in 2003, new research from the Resolution Foundation indicates. The remarkable income stagnation for so many reveals that the economy has been failing to generate income for people over many years despite record levels of people in work. In 2003, households on the lower half of incomes typically earnt £14,900.

Hospitals are buying up medical practices at a feverish pace. According to data from the American Hospital Association, the number of physicians employed by hospitals grew by 34 percent between 2000 and 2010, and the pace shows no signs of slackening. In reviewing its data for the past decade, a large physician recruiting firm found that in 2004 only 11 percent of physician searches were conducted by hospitals, but by 2013 that figure had risen to 63 percent.

More than 10 million working-age men are not working, and the majority of them are not looking for work, according to a congressional analysis of Labor Department statistics that provides context for the decreasing official unemployment rate. The number of men out of the labor force is higher than it has ever been since records began being kept in 1955.

The employment of the future is here, and it's terrific for everyone except the people doing the work. TaskRabbit, which lets you outsource the things you don't want to do to people who need money, is at the forefront of this chore revolution, and it's already making some lives harder.

Aidan McQuade: Children aged just 10 are now permitted to work – why do we keep denying children their right to a childhood?

NCR Corp. Lockheed Martin and packaging firm RockTenn are among the growing number of employers who in recent years have hit tens of thousands of their workers and retirees with an enticing offer: to accept lump sum payouts, often well into six figures, in lieu of monthly pension payments.

The revised employment figures for July from Statistics Canada provided some relief to experts on Friday, showing the economy added far more jobs than the federal agency had originally stated.

Full-time American workers labor the equivalent of nearly an additional day each week, averaging 47 hours instead of the standard 40, according to Gallup poll results released Friday.

Payrolls are rising, but there are strings attached. A new survey from human-resources services firm Aon Hewitt found that companies are spending a record share of their payroll on performance-based bonuses, signaling a shift away from longer-term salary increases.

McDonald's, Wendy's and other fast-food restaurants are expected to be targeted with acts of civil disobedience that could lead to arrests Thursday as labor organizers escalate their campaign to unionize the industry's workers. Kendall Fells, an organizing director for Fast Food Forward, said workers in a couple of dozen cities were trained to peacefully engage in civil disobedience ahead of this week's planned protests.

Brandon Coats knew he was going to fail his drug test. Paralyzed in a car crash when he was 16, he had been using medical marijuana since 2009 to relieve the painful spasms that jolted his body. But he smoked mostly at night, and said marijuana had never hurt his performance answering customer calls for a Colorado satellite-television provider.

One employee — who has had to hide her tattoos while working at Starbucks for years — says she hopes she won't have to hide them much longer.

One-third of migrant workers in the Malaysian electronics industry, which produces goods for some of the world’s best-known brands, are trapped in forced labour, a form of modern-day slavery, according to new research.

The next round of Microsoft layoffs is here. Microsoft is cutting another 2,100 positions on Thursday as part of a previously announced staff reduction plan. The layoffs were first reported by ZDNet and confirmed to Mashable by a source close to the company.

A two-day conference on high-skilled immigration policy, which attracted researchers from the U.S. and Europe, offered Microsoft an opportunity to voice frustration over U.S. immigration policy.

They don't want to work in factories or farms, but at the same time, the white-collar lifestyle remains far out of reach. For the 7.27 million Chinese students who graduated from college last year -- a number roughly 2.5 times the U.S. figure - the job market can be brutal: low salaries, long hours and the knowledge that there are millions of other people just waiting to replace you.

Last week, the Virgin Group founder Richard Branson announced he’d be giving his employees unlimited time off — and in so doing, incited a debate about whether they’d actually feel they could take it.

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear a case that could determine whether companies such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) must pay workers for the time they spend waiting to clear security checks at the end of their work shifts.

About 1,000 workers at a Foxconn Technology Co. 2354.TW -0.13% plant in southwest China assembling printers and computers for companies including Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -1.69% went on strike for several hours this week demanding higher pay.

Starbucks is giving its workers raises, free food and the ability to show off their tattoos.

A Bay Area tech company has been slapped with a fine and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in back wages after a United States Department of Labor investigation revealed the company paid workers $1.21 an hour.

Google has a rep as a fabulous employer. Is working at Google overrated? Uhm. No, employees say. It really is that fantastic.

A law which takes away the legal right to a tea break and weakens collective bargaining has taken line honours as the first law change passed in National's third term, squeaking into law by 62 votes to 58.