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You’ve got the power…?

From Axios: Workers have a lot of leverage right now — from highly paid AI engineers to teachers, delivery drivers and auto workers. Why it matters: More than ever, employees are getting what they want — thanks in part to a very tight labor market, Axios' Emily Peck writes. 🧮 By the numbers: The U.S. unemployment rate has been below 4% for 21 straight months — the longest stretch since the late-1960s, as former Fed economist Claudia Sahm wrote this weekend. The share of prime-age workers (25-54) who are employed is hovering at a 22-year high. What's happening: With fewer workers available, companies have less leverage over employees — they can't rely on an unlimited pool of labor to keep things running. That's why you're seeing growth in real wages this year. Workers in many fields can demand raises. It also helps explain why offices aren't filled back up with workers.…


From Axios:

Workers have a lot of leverage right now — from highly paid AI engineers to teachers, delivery drivers and auto workers.

  • Why it matters: More than ever, employees are getting what they want — thanks in part to a very tight labor market, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

🧮 By the numbers: The U.S. unemployment rate has been below 4% for 21 straight months — the longest stretch since the late-1960s, as former Fed economist Claudia Sahm wrote this weekend.

  • The share of prime-age workers (25-54) who are employed is hovering at a 22-year high.

What's happening: With fewer workers available, companies have less leverage over employees they can't rely on an unlimited pool of labor to keep things running. That's why you're seeing growth in real wages this year. Workers in many fields can demand raises.

  • It also helps explain why offices aren't filled back up with workers. Many of those working remotely have the power to just … not go back in five days a week.

The tight labor market is also the backdrop to all the union action we've been reporting on for the past year or so — why UPS drivers got a great deal without striking and UAW workers just ratified the best contract they've seen in decades.

  • “Workers have more power than they ever have,” said Catherine Creighton, who worked for decades as a union-side labor lawyer, at a talk about the UAW contract on Monday.

What's next: Demographics may keep things tight for the long haul, as the population ages and politics hold back immigration growth.

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