Labor Week: Gig Worker Abuse, COVID Job Recovery & More

FTC Will Crack Down on Gig Worker Abuse

The Federal Trade Commission approved a policy statement that announced its intention to protect gig workers from unfair, deceptive or anticompetitive practices.

The FTC listed three primary areas of enforcement: holding companies accountable for claims to workers about potential earnings and costs borne by workers; ensuring that restrictive contract terms, including those limiting workers from seeking other jobs, do not violate the FTC Act or other laws; and investigating the illegal fixing of wages, benefits, or fees for gig workers that should be open to competition, as well as exclusionary or predatory conduct that could cause harm to customers or reduced compensation or poorer working conditions for gig workers. (FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION)

OR Recovers All Job Lost to COVID

The Oregon Employment Department said the state has recovered all of the jobs lost during the first two-plus years of the COVID pandemic.

“With the rapid gains in total nonfarm payroll jobs in July and August, Oregon reached a record employment total of 1,974,700 jobs in August, which was 2,500 jobs above the pre-pandemic peak reached in February 2020,” the Employment Department said in a statement. (OREGON EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT, OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING)

--Compiled by RICH EHISEN