U.S. Department of Labor Blog

Nobody would want to drive a vehicle that wasn’t properly maintained and lacked important safety features. Yet at one shipping company that operates nationwide, Central Transport LLC, workers were required to operate unsafe forklifts.

Debbie Currie, a 55-year-old grandmother of five, had worked a variety of retail jobs over the years while raising her three children. Several years ago, a close friend who was a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 invited her to a union function. There Debbie learned about Local 4’s apprenticeship program, and looking for a more rewarding career path, she decided to apply. For the last three and half years Debbie has been working on the Route 79/Braga Bridge Improvements Project in Fall River, Massachusetts. The project is one of the five largest projects of a $3 billion effort to reduce the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state, and is a mega construction project that receives federal funding

It’s a fact: our workforce is aging. By 2024, nearly 1 in 4 people in the labor force are projected to be age 55 or over.

    In honor of National Apprenticeship Week, the Labor Department is exploring the many ways “Apprenticeship Works” — for workers, employers, businesses and new opportunities.

    Just a year ago this October, Alvina White-Bull was preparing for release from federal prison after serving time for drug charges. The Army veteran’s 2009 conviction came after battling depression for years, leading her to abuse alcohol and drugs.

The start of a new school year marks an exciting but somewhat stressful time for all students and their families.

Ruperto Valle Santamaria has spent the past several years anxiously watching from afar as crime has skyrocketed in his native El Salvador while he earns a living as a driver for a residential care facility in Southern California.

    It was around 4:30 in the afternoon on March 25, 1911.