For millions of hourly and shift workers, flexibility is built into when they work but rarely into when they get paid. Labor Economy workers are hourly, gig, seasonal or shift-based workers earning no more than $25 an hour and typically less than $50,000 a year....
American consumers are facing added strain as inflation continues to outpace wage growth. “A substantial number of Americans are worse off, their incomes are not keeping up with the price increases right now,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told CNBC in...
Texas businesses using artificial intelligence to set compensation or select employees for layoffs could face greater scrutiny if Democratic attorney general nominee Nathan Johnson wins in November. The state senator’s proposal targets two gaps in Texas’ existing AI framework: tools used to manipulate wage bargaining...
A sick day may last 24 hours. The financial effects can stay much longer. For millions of workers, one missed shift can reduce the next paycheck and force a fast change in household spending. The “Wage to Wallet Index: Paid Time, Unpaid Risk” draws on...
September 15, 2026
For millions of hourly and shift workers, flexibility is built into when they work but rarely into when they get paid. Labor Economy workers are hourly, gig, seasonal or shift-based workers earning no more than $25 an hour and typically less than $50,000 a year. Only 11% of them have access to on-demand pay through […]
August 18, 2026
A posted hourly wage can overstate what a shift is worth to the person being asked to work it. Gas, tolls, vehicle expenses and unpaid travel time come out of...
July 22, 2026
For decades, the hourly labor market has organized worker pay around the wage itself. Employers compete by adding another dollar per hour, workers compare job postings by headline pay, and...
July 07, 2026
Earned wage access has largely solved the question of availability. The remaining challenge is persuading workers that it deserves a place in their regular financial lives. That distinction emerges from...
September 13, 2026
American consumers are facing added strain as inflation continues to outpace wage growth. “A substantial number of Americans are worse off, their incomes are not keeping up with the price increases right now,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told CNBC in an interview Sunday (Sept. 13). Data released last week by […]
August 23, 2026
Artificial intelligence is affecting the labor market, though not in the way people might think. That’s according to Torsten Slok, Apollo Global Management’s chief economist, who told Bloomberg News on...
July 23, 2026
New government data showed working-class consumers in the United States seeing a bump in pay, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (July 23). Economists said improved finances among working-class people...
July 14, 2026
Workforce financial infrastructure provider Branch now enables companies and platforms to embed its earned wage access into scheduling, shift and other tools used by workforces. These new integrations represent an...
