| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | With help from Lawrence Ukenye and Eleanor Mueller
| | GOING PUBLIC: The American economy keeps adding jobs, and the government is doing its part. Government employers added some 43,000 jobs in May, according to Labor Department data released Friday — part of a 272,000-job uptick that surprised many analysts. That actually represents a bit of a slowdown for the public sector, which has averaged 52,000 new jobs per month over the last year even as private employers have started to pump the brakes on hiring workers. It’s a significant shift: Public-sector hiring only recently returned to pre-pandemic levels, after being a notable laggard during early economic recovery efforts following Covid-19. “The public sector is finally actually managing to recruit workers again,” ZipRecruiter Chief Economist Julia Pollack said in an interview. “We saw a huge gap emerge between wage growth rates for the private sector and the public sector during the pandemic reopening that has now reversed.” Still, the resurgence has fallen flat with conservatives, who contend that the growth in government jobs is papering over lackluster performance of late for the rest of the economy. “These jobs juice top-line monthly employment reports and provide a false indication of labor market and economic strength,” Job Creators Network CEO Alfredo Ortiz told POLITICO. And no matter how good the numbers are, they’ve been far from a salve for the White House, as President Joe Biden runs out of time to turn around American voters’ gloomy view of the economy, our Adam Cancyrn reports. Not to mention how surprisingly strong jobs reports, such as Friday’s, can still throw a wrench into the Federal Reserve’s ongoing quest to zap inflation, our Sam Sutton reports. Nevertheless, the Biden administration is working to spread the good word — including acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who is hitting the road for a cross-country “Good Jobs Summer” tour. “Our job is to continue to exercise our responsibility to deliver on this vision that the president has had,” Su told our colleagues at West Wing Playbook. “The more we do that, the more I think people will keep feeling it.” Your host has more on the public-sector hiring boom for Pro subscribers here. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, June 10. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Don’t bring mommy and daddy to a job interview. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
| | | | JOIN US ON 6/12 FOR A TALK ON THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY: As air travel soars again, policymakers and airlines are grappling with a series of contemporary challenges to the industry's future. Join POLITICO on June 12 for a topical and timely conversation with government leaders and aviation stakeholders about the state of the airline industry. From what passengers want to what airlines need amid the high demand for air traffic, workers and technology solutions. What can Washington do to ensure passengers and providers are equipped to fly right? REGISTER HERE. | | | | | Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
| | FIRST IN SHIFT: House Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal's staff is convening paid leave advocates, unions, nonprofits and others to dust off the paid leave policy included in Biden's Build Back Better proposal ahead of the new session, Eleanor Mueller reports. One large meeting has already taken place, said an aide granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Next up: a series of smaller gatherings. The goal is to strategize on building support — and to fine-tune the policy to reflect lessons learned at the state level, the aide said. Four more states have enacted their own paid leave programs in the last two years, according to DOL. The U.S. is the only wealthy nation without a federal paid leave policy. Congress enacted one during the pandemic but later allowed it to lapse amid GOP resistance. Democrats then carved the benefit out of their social spending plan in 2021 in the face of similar opposition from key moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.). The issue has since largely stalled in the divided Congress. More hill news: “How Congress Became the ‘Last Plantation,’” from our Michael Schaeffer. Even more: “How vulnerable GOP lawmakers are taking credit for an infrastructure law they opposed,” from our Katherine Tully-McManus.
| | BEEFING OVER BALLOTS: The National Labor Relations Board's regional offices did not consistently comply with its procedures when conducting union mail-in ballot elections, according to a report published by its inspector general Friday, Lawrence reported. The report found a “lack of appropriate internal controls” for how the board handles the delivery and return of ballots that may be impeding its voting process. The findings also reference instances of individuals receiving duplicate ballots but acknowledges that no election counts were "tainted" as a result of that. Different regions had issues loading documents into the agency’s case filing system, but the report denies that there was any bias present in union elections. More agency news: "Treasury to soon issue guidance on climate law’s labor provisions, electric vehicle infrastructure credit," from our Kelsey Tamborinno.
| | | SKELETONS ON K STREET: Subject Matter, a prominent D.C. lobbying shop, is an excruciating place to work for women, our Daniel Lippman and Megan R. Wilson report. Twenty-eight of the former employees reported experiencing or witnessing some sexist treatment while at the firm. Among the complaints from the departed employees: receiving unwanted comments about their appearance, being berated or yelled at by their bosses, having their ideas shut down and seeing credit for their work taken by men. Some men were advocates for women, but many others “failed upward,” in the words of several former employees. The allegations surfaced after two top staffers, Shanti Stanton and Audrey Chang, were booted from the firm last year. CEO Nicole Cornish said in a statement that the overarching allegation made by former employees that Subject Matter was a poor workplace for women is “inconsistent with the facts of who we are and the firm we have built.” More workplace news: “Trucking Payrolls Slide on Weaker Freight Demand,” from The Wall Street Journal.
| | | BRAGG ABOUT IT: Stephen Miller’s America First Legal on Friday lodged allegations against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accusing his office of violating anti-discrimination laws through its diversity policies. AFL said it filed charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and New York’s Division of Human Rights, pointing to statements on the DA’s website that commits to “ensuring our staff reflects the diversity of the communities we serve” as indicative of bias. “His practice of recruiting, hiring, and promoting workers based on their race, sex, or national origin is obnoxious, immoral, and illegal,” AFL’s Reed D. Rubinstein said in a statement. AFL and other conservative groups have gone after Bragg in retaliation for his office’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump, in which a jury convicted him on all 34 felony counts. The DA’s office did not return a request for comment. More state news: “[New York] Senate approves Retail Worker Safety Act, sending it to Hochul's desk,” from Spectrum News.
| | | UC STRIKE SNUFFED OUT: A judge on Friday ordered a temporary halt to a proliferating academic worker strike at the University of California, where employees have walked off the job at several campuses in protest of the UC’s handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, our Blake Jones reports. The state labor board twice declined to block the work stoppages, prompting the UC to seek a different outcome in the courts earlier this week. Orange County Superior Court Judge Randall J. Sherman, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, granted the temporary restraining order against the United Auto Workers 4811. The decision is a blow to the union that is sure to intensify tensions with the university system, which has been tested by the occupation of academic buildings and construction of encampments on several campuses since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
| | | | JOIN US ON 6/13 FOR A TALK ON THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE: As Congress and the White House work to strengthen health care affordability and access, innovative technologies and treatments are increasingly important for patient health and lower costs. What barriers are appearing as new tech emerges? Is the Medicare payment process keeping up with new technologies and procedures? Join us on June 13 as POLITICO convenes a panel of lawmakers, officials and experts to discuss what policy solutions could expand access to innovative therapies and tech. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | ALL ABOUT NOVEMBER: The labor market may still be hot, but the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. is using the better-than-expected jobs report released Friday to hit Biden on another front — immigration, our Isabella Ramirez and Victoria Guida report. The Labor Department’s report that the U.S. economy added 272,000 jobs in May “paints a dire picture for the American economy,” MAGA Inc. wrote in a press release titled “May Jobs Report: Immigrants Win While Native Born Americans Lose.” The release cites a decrease in the number of employed native-born workers and an increase in the number of employed foreign-born workers in May compared to April. MAGA Inc. also pointed to comments from CNBC’s senior economics reporter Steve Liesman, who on Friday morning said “there’s an immigration piece to this” while discussing the jobs report. More immigration news: “Some nationalities escape Biden’s sweeping asylum ban because deportation flights are scarce,” from The Associated Press. Opinion: “Why Biden Is Right to Curb Immigration,” from The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof.
| | — “The Future of Labor,” from The Atlantic. — “OPM’s retirement backlog hit an 8-year low last month,” from the Government Executive. — “Hubris, Revenge and a Breakup Brought Down Big Tech’s Proudest Ally,” from The Wall Street Journal. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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