White House background checks: 100 officials served with 'interim' security clearances

Government background checks have been in the spotlight since the Rob Porter scandel, with public outrage swelling at the inefficiencies of the screening process. The timing of the Rob Porter story, showcasing government background check failures, coincided with news that the Government Accountability Office (GOA) has taken the unusual step of adding government background check efforts to its…

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Kansas City 'bans the box' for private employers

Missouri has become the latest state to ‘ban the box’ for private employers, with Kansas City adopting a ‘ban the box’ ordinance to bar private and public employers from asking applicants about criminal records and delay such inquiries until later in the hiring process. Kansas City government adopted the policy for most city employees in…

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Report: 25% of current jobs to be eliminated in next decade

A new Bain report suggests that job automation may eliminate 20% to 25% of current jobs by 2030, hitting middle- to low-income workers the hardest. They forecast US labor force growth will slow to 0.4% per year in the coming decades, “bringing an end to the abundance of labor that has fueled economic growth since the 1970s.”…

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January 2018 employment: US adds 200,000 jobs

According to ‘The Employment Situation‘ report released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the United States remained unchanged at 4.1%, while the economy added 200,000 jobs, in January. Employment continued to trend up in construction, food services and drinking places, health care, and manufacturing. Economists polled by Reuters…

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Labor Department re-considers drug test rule for unemployment pay

The Trump administration is looking to expand drug testing for unemployment benefits about a year after killing an Obama-era rule that limited the ability of states to screen applicants, according to The Hill. The U.S. Labor Department has indicated it would broaden the number of occupations that can drug test for unemployment. The 2016 rule repealed…

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