Wages

Washington grocery workers 'begging' for more hours as wages don't keep up with bills

Many grocery workers are running out of food at home and aren’t earning enough to make rent, according to a new study.

National

More Retail Workers Are Quitting Than Ever, But More Stores Are Opening Than Expected

The U.S. retail industry is setting records: workers quitting and workers hired. Wages are finally growing. And despite the pandemic devastation, brand-new stores are still opening.

Business

First essential, then 'devalued': Gig workers don't want to return to ebb and flow of wages

Wages ebb and flow in the gig economy, where workers pick up odd jobs on apps like Doordash and TaskRabbit. Sometimes, the money’s good. But with gig work, there’s no minimum wage. This summer, the Seattle City Council will work on ways to remedy that.

The cost of a strawberry: Overtime battle for Washington's farm workers

Strawberry season doesn’t mean strawberry shortcake or strawberry jam for Ana. It means long days bent nearly double to snap ripe strawberries from where they grow, near the ground. “You have to lean over a lot to pick strawberries,” she said. “So of course everything hurts: your legs, your back--everything.”

Government

High traffic causes Washington's unemployment website to crash. More help is on the way

KUOW’s Carolyn Adolph updates us on unemployment news

Politics

Hiring Picks Up As Employers Add 225,000 Jobs In January

U.S. employers added more jobs than expected last month, while the unemployment rate inched up to 3.6%. Unusually warm weather contributed to job gains for construction workers.