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Articles on Labor laws

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Massive gains in productivity haven’t led to more time free from work. J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Why is free time still so elusive?

In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes famously predicted that within a century, the normal workweek would decrease to 15 hours. Why was he wrong?
Activists in Dhaka demand safe working conditions in 2019, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse. Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Fast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry’s many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners

Ten years after the collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the garment industry’s deadliest disaster, reforms are incomplete. The opaqueness of today’s complex supply chain is part of the problem.
It’s estimated that over one-third of all private companies require their employees to sign noncompete clauses. wera Rodsawang/Moment via Getty Images

FTC prepares to ban ‘noncompete agreements’ – what they are and why low-wage workers are increasingly required to sign them

While noncompetes may make sense for well-paid executives who possess trade secrets, they make less sense for low-paid workers – yet many are subject to the agreements.
These boys working in a Georgia cotton mill were photographed in 1909. Lewis Hine/The National Child Labor Committee Collection via Library of Congress

Abolishing child labor took the specter of ‘white slavery’ and the job market’s near collapse during the Great Depression

More than a fifth of US children were working in 1900, and many Americans saw nothing wrong with that. It took decades of activism and court battles plus economic upheaval to change course.
Single-parent families are getting less paid leave but perhaps need more of it. shurkin_son/Shutterstock.com

Parental leave laws are failing single parents

Forty percent of US babies are born to unmarried parents. But the new paid leave policy for most federal workers disadvantages single parents.
Uber and Lyft drivers protest their working conditions in Los Angeles in May 2019. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Worker-protection laws aren’t ready for an automated future

If your job doesn’t currently involve automation or artificial intelligence in some way, it likely will soon. Computer-based worker surveillance and performance analysis will come, too.
Donald Trump says cheap Mexican labor is hurting American workers. But isn’t it also hurting Mexican workers? AP Photo/Guillermo Arias

How Trump’s NAFTA renegotiations could help Mexican workers

Trump has attacked NAFTA, saying that cheap, under-regulated Mexican labor hurts American workers. If he’s right, then NAFTA negotiations could be a chance to push Mexico on workers’ rights.

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