U.S. Department of Labor Blog

How a Young Lawyer’s Mental Health Journey Fuels Her Advocacy Work

Gates.Matthew.R@dol.gov — Tue, 14 May 2024 18:33:42 +0000

How a Young Lawyer’s Mental Health Journey Fuels Her Advocacy Work

At the U.S. Department of Labor, we’re committed to fostering and promoting the welfare of all workers—including their mental well-being. As part of our effort, we seek to learn the lived experiences of the people we serve.

To acknowledge Mental Health Awareness Month this May, DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy sat down with Marissa Ditkowsky, disability economic justice counsel at the nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families and adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL). She works on everything from research to policy analysis to advocacy, focusing on advancing policies that support the economic health of disabled women, and particularly, disabled women of color.

Marissa, who lives in Maryland, says her personal and professional experiences propelled her to advocate for, and with, disabled people like herself. Here’s more of what she had to say. (This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.)

Tell us how you decided to pursue law and disability advocacy.

My journey was driven by my personal experiences. I wanted to make things better for others going through similar things—to help folks who maybe don’t know their rights or need help navigating difficult situations. My lived experiences as a disabled woman frames and fuels my perspective and work at the National Partnership.

Would you share more about your disability and the barriers you’ve faced?

I am multiply disabled, meaning I have several types of disabilities. I have a chronic condition called myotonic dystrophy type 2, which affects multiple body systems and causes many different symptoms. The big ones are pain and fatigue.

I also have anxiety. My anxiety primarily impacts communication—both how I communicate and what I need from communication. Not everyone knows or realizes the types of accommodations that can be made for folks with mental health conditions, but expectations and needs from communication are just one example.

My anxiety can sometimes make it difficult to advocate for myself—when I have problems accessing needed accommodations, it exacerbates my anxiety. If we mean it when we say we care about mental health, we must consider people’s experiences requesting accommodations. Sometimes the process itself can impact a person’s mental health, even if the accommodation itself isn’t directly mental-health related.

It sounds like you are speaking from your own experience.

In law school, I needed accommodations to assist with the pain and fatigue in my arms and hands. Some of my requests were initially denied. Although I was ultimately able to record classes, I was initially offered a notetaker instead. And while I appreciated that, it would not have met my specific access needs.

The biggest struggle was with the MPRE [Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination], an exam many states require for admission to the bar. My requests for accommodations were denied, and I didn’t appeal because it was just too time consuming. I am fortunate that it ultimately worked out for me, but it doesn’t for everyone.

How do you feel mental health is perceived in the legal profession?

The culture needs to improve—not just for disabled people, but for everyone. Some clear examples of parts of the legal profession that may impact mental health are concerns about work-life balance or the culture of competition in law school. In legal services, it can be difficult to cope with the secondary trauma and avoid burnout. I’m involved in the National Disabled Legal Professionals Association (NDLPA), and earlier in my career, I was a leader of the National Disabled Law Students Association (NDLSA). Both groups are actively working toward making the legal profession more accessible and inclusive. But it will take a real commitment from law schools, employers, testing administrators, licensing bodies, the bench and others.

What changes would help foster a more inclusive culture in law?

To start, we need to make sure that folks know what resources are available. They can go to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), or connect with NDLPA to talk to other disabled lawyers with similar experiences. Additionally, we need to stamp out stigma. Ultimately, without marginalized folks in leadership roles or systemic change, we cannot achieve a more inclusive culture.

What changes do you think could be made in law school?

In the disability rights course I teach at AUWCL, I tried to apply the principles of universal design as much as I could. For example, I avoided “cold calling” students to answer questions, for instance. I also recorded my classes and had a flexible attendance policy. I still had high levels of participation and engagement. While accommodations are important, they infer an exception to the norm. I try to focus on having access be the norm. It is possible to make law school and the legal profession more inclusive—we just have to be willing to reimagine it.

Marissa Ditkowsky is a disability economic justice counsel at the nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families and adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL)

Gates.Matthew… Tue, 05/14/2024 - 14:33

Marissa Ditkowsky

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Business Ownership, Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship Among People with Disabilities

Gates.Matthew.R@dol.gov — Tue, 14 May 2024 17:25:44 +0000

Business Ownership, Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship Among People with Disabilities

Small businesses are the engine of the American economy. They employ just under half of all U.S. workers and comprise more than 99% of businesses. Both small-business ownership and self-employment are important avenues to economic empowerment, particularly for people with disabilities. For many disabled workers, entrepreneurship allows greater access, freedom and flexibility at work. By owning their own business, people with disabilities may not only reduce or eliminate barriers in the workplace, but also maintain independence and economic stability within their communities.

Seeking Good Data

An inclusive and thriving economy needs business ownership among people with disabilities, employment of disabled people in small businesses, and policies to promote both. Good data form the starting point for policymakers to design sound policies, target initiatives and provide support services to encourage business ownership and entrepreneurship among disabled people. Therefore, collecting data about business owners with disabilities plays an important role in promoting inclusivity.

The Current Population Survey (CPS), sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the primary source of labor-force statistics in the United States. It includes a set of six questions to identify people with disabilities, which in turn makes it possible to identify self-employed disabled business owners. However, additional measures of business ownership among people with disabilities are scarce.

To improve on the existing data, ODEP collaborated with the U.S. Census Bureau to include a disability question in a separate survey, the Annual Business Survey (ABS). The new question is based on the definition of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act: “Does the owner have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his/her major life activities? For this survey, major life activities can include both those in everyday and professional life.”

The Latest Findings

In the figures below, we offer a first look at the newest data on business owners with disabilities, from the 2022 ABS. These survey data were collected in 2022, referencing the respondents’ 2021 experience, and were released in October 2023. We further compare these new data with information from the CPS on self-employed people and wage-and-salary employees.

The CPS data allow us to identify two types of self-employed people:

self-employed “incorporated” workers, such as small-business owners, who have established a legal corporation and typically employ others; and
self-employed “unincorporated” workers, such as freelancers, who have not established a corporation and often operate alone.

The ABS data, meanwhile, identify business owners. While not exact analogues (the CPS’s self-employed incorporated workers are the closest comparison group to the ABS’s business owners), a side-by-side look at both sets of data allows us to gain a broader understanding of business ownership and self-employment among disabled people.

How prevalent is disability among business owners? Are there differences by sex or veteran status ?

Source: Annual Business Survey 2022, which represents business ownership in 2021.

Three percent of business owners have disabilities, according to new data from the ABS. There is essentially no difference in disability prevalence between men and women business owners, but veteran business owners are much more likely to be disabled compared to nonveterans. According to the ABS, 8% of veteran business owners have disabilities. Source: Annual Business Survey 2022, which represents business ownership in 2021.

Are there differences in disability rates among business owners by race or ethnicity?

Source: Annual Business Survey 2022, which represents business ownership in 2021.

People identifying as Asian have the lowest disability rate among business owners, at 1.5%, compared to other groups. People identifying as “Other,” which includes Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and people of mixed race, have the highest rates of disability among business owners. Black business owners have the next highest rate of disability among the groups, at 4.1%, with Hispanic and white business owners reporting rates of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively.

How prevalent is disability among self-employed workers and wage-and-salary employees? Are there differences by sex or veteran status?

Source: Current Population Survey, 2021 annual averages.

Compared to the business owners surveyed in the ABS, wage-and-salary employees and self-employed workers responding to the CPS report slightly higher rates of disability—but, overall, the estimates are not dissimilar. For instance, the graph just above shows that 3.8% of wage-and-salary employees, 4.2% of self-employed incorporated people and 5.7% of self-employed unincorporated people have disabilities. As was seen among business owners in the ABS, there are minimal differences in disability rates by sex among the CPS worker categories, yet we see much higher disability rates for veterans in each category. Among veteran workers, nearly 9% of wage-and-salary employees, 11.4% of self-employed incorporated workers and 14.1% of self-employed unincorporated workers have a disability. Across demographic groups, disability prevalence is lowest among wage-and-salary employees, higher among self-employed incorporated workers and highest among self-employed unincorporated workers. In other words, disabled people make up the largest proportion of the self-employed unincorporated group, which includes sole proprietors and freelancers, compared to the wage-and-salary employee and self-employed incorporated groups.

Worker Class Category

Total

Female

Male

Veteran

Wage-and-Salary Employees

3.8%

3.7%

8.8%

Self-Employed: Incorporated

4.2%

4.1%

4.3%

11.4%

Self-Employed: Unincorporated

5.7%

6.0%

5.5%

14.1%

How does disability prevalence among business owners compare with prevalence among self-employed workers and wage-and-salary employees by race or ethnicity?

Source: Current Population Survey, 2021 annual averages.

There are several interesting differences in disability prevalence by race among wage-and-salary employees and self-employed workers. For example, Asians report the lowest disability prevalence rates in every worker category compared with other racial groups, while those identifying as “Other” (including Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and people of mixed race) report the highest rates of disability in each worker category.

Worker Class Category

Hispanic

White

Black

Asian

Other

Wage-and-Salary Employees

3.0%

4.2%

3.5%

1.4%

5.4%

Self-Employed: Incorporated

2.0%

4.9%

3.1%

1.4%

8.7%

Self-Employed: Unincorporated

3.2%

6.6%

5.2%

2.7%

8.6%

Looking Ahead

Keep an eye on this blog for the second part of ODEP’s analysis of ABS and CPS data on business ownership among people with disabilities. Next, we will look at current rates of disability among business owners, by industry, and take a historical view of how disability rates have changed over time among self-employed workers.

In the meantime, we encourage small businesses that wish to promote inclusion and the employment of disabled people to check out the ODEP-funded Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion’s (EARN) new Small Business Toolkit, which provides:

Practical, affordable strategies to hire and retain disabled workers;
Information to improve disability inclusion with limited resources;
Advice on common topics for workers with disabilities; and
Opportunities to learn about tax incentives and other supports for small businesses.

David Rosenblum is a Senior Economist for the Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Christopher McLaren is a Director of Research and Evaluation for the Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Gates.Matthew… Tue, 05/14/2024 - 13:25

David Rosenblum, Christopher McLaren

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Healing as Learning at Newport News YouthBuild

McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov — Tue, 14 May 2024 13:42:31 +0000

Healing as Learning at Newport News YouthBuild

Preparing for a job requires education and training, which means developing skills and strategies to solve problems and cope with challenges. The Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas’ (VOACC) team who facilitate Newport News YouthBuild know that the ability to effectively solve problems and overcome challenges is heavily impacted by a person’s mental health and well-being. And their holistic approach to job readiness for youth from underserved communities is getting results.

“Many of our participants come to YouthBuild with a lot already on their plates,” said Newport News YouthBuild case manager Amere Langley. “From depression and anxiety to substance use and domestic violence taking place at home, these students have a lot to handle even before they take on the task of earning a GED and preparing for a career.” This is taken into account throughout the participant’s time in the program. The case manager is responsible for doing a full-length assessment on all areas of life and determine which area to focus on individually.

Understanding that many youth growing up in low-income areas of Newport News and the greater Hampton Roads area have had adverse childhood experiences , the VOACC team supports YouthBuild participants from the beginning through trauma-informed and person-centered intake evaluations. As concerns and social needs are identified, participants are connected with support and resources to help them learn to navigate and overcome challenging situations. Some may need help meeting basic needs at home, while others may benefit from getting connected with an outside therapist. For some, a technique known as a “healing circle” offers a chance to connect with peers who are living in similar situations, share their experiences and learn skills to cope.

This spring, the U.S. Department of Labor invited VOACC and other YouthBuild human services organization grantees to attend a series of peer-to-peer convenings, which included a workshop on addressing community-based violence through interventions centered on communal healing. A specialist in mentoring and community violence facilitated model healing circles in which program staff took on the role of youth participants reacting to a tragic event in a group setting. The workshop focused on skill-building and easy implementation rooted in a strengths-based approach. Programs were encouraged to use community assets to drive trauma-informed designs for violence prevention and grief care tailored to each community.

“We started bringing students together to discuss shared challenges, and soon noticed the positive impact,” said Newport News YouthBuild program specialist Taniqua Norman. “At the outset, we didn’t know that our process was very closely related to the established ‘healing circle’ method. Since attending the spring convening, we’ve taken steps to make the groups even more effective, and shared our experiences with other training and education programs. It’s been great to be at the cutting edge of some really impactful work.”

In one recent instance, a number of youth participants tested positive for marijuana during their intake process. They were brought into a conference room to discuss why they were using cannabis, and had the opportunity to hear the reasons given by their peers. Guided by staff, the students gained an understanding of what was driving their behavior and how to change. For example, several of the participants decided to start going to the gym and playing basketball together as a way to develop healthy habits for managing their stress and anxiety.

“Identifying and understanding what is happening in their lives helps participants remove roadblocks to learning, and is also a learning experience in and of itself,” said Newport News YouthBuild GED instructor Suzanna Bryant. “When it comes to a specific behavior, a student may never have considered why they were engaging in it. Having the opportunity to reflect with a group of peers can give them the insight needed to change the behavior and better focus on learning and job preparation.”

To learn more about the YouthBuild program, visit www.voachesapeake.org/youthbuild.

Michael Trupo is the deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Public Affairs.

McGinnis.Laura… Tue, 05/14/2024 - 09:42

Michael Trupo

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Mind and Body: Supporting Women's Health

Holloway.Lorynn.N@dol.gov — Tue, 14 May 2024 13:14:36 +0000

Mind and Body: Supporting Women's Health

Beginning on Mother's Day, National Women’s Health Week highlights the importance of women prioritizing our own health needs.

For many women, particularly mothers and other caregivers, the daily juggle of family responsibilities and career demands often leads to not prioritizing our own well-being. It's not uncommon for women to put the needs of our families and jobs before our own, sometimes at the cost of our health. I certainly have done it myself, over and over again, and need to remind myself that my health is a priority – we only have one body to live in! National Women's Health Week empowers women to take charge of our health including access to important services through our job-based health coverage.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) makes it easier to address your health needs. For your job-based health coverage, the ACA provides access to preventive services like screenings for cancer (such as mammograms and pap tests), urinary incontinence, diabetes and interpersonal and domestic violence with no out-of-pocket cost, as well as critical health benefits such as maternity and newborn care and general well woman care. This ensures you can access these important screenings without financial barriers and receive comprehensive services at all stages of life. The ACA also mandates coverage for services including blood pressure checks, cholesterol screenings, some forms of nutritional counseling, obesity counseling, diabetes tests, help quitting smoking, lactation support, intervention and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence, and contraception and family planning services - all empowering women to take control of our health. The ACA requires plans to provide coverage without out-of-pocket costs for medications and devices related to preventive care such as contraception medications and devices and breastfeeding equipment and supplies. These comprehensive protections explained further by the Health Resources and Services Administration Women's Preventive Services Guidelines help you prioritize your health while managing your busy life.

Your mental health is also an important part of your overall well-being. Many job-based health plans cover mental health services such as counseling and therapy. The ACA requires health plans to cover screenings for anxiety at no out-of-pocket cost. Mental health parity laws generally require that mental health and substance use disorder benefits are provided in a similar way as medical and surgical benefits in job-based health plans. When you seek treatment, you should not face barriers or roadblocks that don’t exist for medical and surgical treatments. We offer publications and resources to help women understand their benefits and protections such as Understanding Your Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Benefits.

During National Women's Health Week, we want women to know their health protections so they can make informed decisions and use their job-based health coverage to stay strong and healthy. We have benefits advisors who can help you understand your health benefits, answer your questions and assist if you run into problems. Reach a benefits advisor at askebsa.dol.gov or call 1-866-444-3272 (EBSA). As we celebrate women and mothers and highlight women’s health, let's help all women feel supported and empowered to speak up about their health and health care needs, and take advantage of their job-based health coverage. It’s the greatest gift we can give to ourselves!

Lisa M. Gomez is the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Holloway.Loryn… Tue, 05/14/2024 - 09:14

Lisa M. Gomez

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Celebrating the Power to Pump at Work

McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov — Fri, 10 May 2024 13:05:46 +0000

Celebrating the Power to Pump at Work

For me, becoming a mother was full of joy and wonder. But, as any parent can attest, it can also be challenging and exhausting. Returning to work is not the least of the challenges. The return to work is a key moment when you are forced to reconcile who you once were with who you are now – a working mom. And for breastfeeding parents, that means a daily grind of hauling pumping equipment, washing pump parts and managing a pumping schedule to continue to nurse your baby.

My son was born last year, and I have been pumping at work since I returned from leave last November. I am grateful that I do not have to worry about having time and space at work to pump breastmilk on top of managing all of the other changes in our family life. Thanks to the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections Act (“PUMP” Act), which President Biden signed into law at the end of 2022, some 9 million additional women won’t have to add this worry to their list either.

The decision to breastfeed is a deeply personal choice, and it is a choice that all parents should be able to make without worrying that their workplace will not accommodate their need to pump. Not being able to pump over the course of several hours – let alone several shifts – can have significant impacts on a worker’s comfort and their ability to express breastmilk, maintain their breastmilk supply and provide nutrition for their child. These are common challenges that nursing parents face, and the law now recognizes the need for workplace protections for many more women.

The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) at the U.S. Department of Labor has been hard at work to implement the expansion of the right to break time and private space to express breast milk at work to many more working parents.

New guidance on the PUMP Act

In January 2023, we updated our fact sheet, “FLSA Protections for Employees to Pump Breast Milk at Work,” and published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to provide accessible information. Shortly afterwards, we released the PUMP Act Field Assistance Bulletin, which provides guidance to the public and WHD field staff regarding enforcement of the pump at work provisions of the FLSA, and held a nationwide webinar.

The #PowerToPump Initiative

On Aug. 1, 2023, we marked the start of World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding Month with a nationwide Day of Action to launch our #PowerToPump initiative, which focuses on educating workers, employers and stakeholders on workers’ expanded rights to pump at work under the PUMP Act. On this Day of Action, our 54 district offices and the national office distributed PUMP Act materials to over 300 community-based organizations and nonprofits across the country, including WIC offices, worker centers, breastfeeding coalitions and health clinics. We continue to partner with these organizations to provide presentations, resources and information about workers’ rights under the law. We released door hangers for workers to hang outside of their designated pumping space at work and workers' rights cards.

We are also working to ensure that employers have the information they need to make these rights a reality for working moms. We know that even one day without the ability to pump at work can make a pumping mom sick or experience a decrease in milk supply, so our families need employers to get this right from the moment working moms return to work.

As part of the #PowerToPump initiative, we provided industry-specific webinars and FAQ guidance to five key industries impacted by the expanded protections: agriculture, retail and restaurant, care, transportation, and education.

New materials for Mother’s Day

In recognition of Mother’s Day, we’ve revamped our Maternal Health webpage to better help the public understand the range of federal protections for workers during pregnancy and after childbirth.

In addition, we released new Frequently Asked Questions about PUMP Act protections, based on real questions from stakeholders and webinar attendees.

Since the PUMP Act’s implementation, our field staff have conducted nearly 900 outreach events about the pump at work provisions of the FLSA. We will continue to incorporate feedback from workers, advocates and employers to ensure our guidance is as helpful as possible and that all employers have the tools to comply with the law and support working parents.

This Mother’s Day, we celebrate the impact of the PUMP Act and honor working parents across the country for all that they do.

Kristin M. García is the deputy administrator for the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Follow the division on LinkedIn and on Twitter at @WHD_DOL.

McGinnis.Laura… Fri, 05/10/2024 - 09:05

Kristin García

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Eco-mom-ics: 5 fast facts about mothers in the U.S. economy

Holloway.Lorynn.N@dol.gov — Thu, 09 May 2024 15:28:53 +0000

Eco-mom-ics: 5 fast facts about mothers in the U.S. economy

As Mother’s Day fast approaches, let’s celebrate moms not just for their role in their families, but also for their integral role in the U.S. economy. The often undervalued labor of mothers – whether it’s in the form of paid or unpaid work – is critical to keep homes, communities and the nation running. Almost three-fourths (74%) of moms with children under 18 are working in the labor force, and beyond that, moms are performing the unpaid work of caring for their children, completing household chores and volunteering in the wider community. It’s no wonder many moms are stretched thin.

This Mother’s Day, here are five fast facts about mothers in the economy:

40.5% of all mothers with children under 18 are equal, primary or sole income earners for their family. This share is especially large for Black moms: While 36.4% of White, non-Hispanic mothers and 39.3% of Hispanic mothers are equal, primary or sole breadwinners, the percentage of Black mothers is a staggering 65.9%.
On top of performing paid work an average of 35.5 hours a week and doing chores for 13.2 hours a week, employed mothers aged 18-64 today spend more time actively caring for their children than their mothers and grandmothers did almost 50 years ago. In 2022, employed mothers with a child under 18 spent an average of approximately 12.5 hours per week on active child care, according to a Women’s Bureau analysis of the American Time Use Survey. In contrast, in 1975 all mothers – whether they were in the labor force or not – spent an average of 8.6 hours per week actively caring for their children (and 23.6 hours on housework). Simply put, even though women are now spending substantially more time in paid employment than they were 50 years ago, they are spending over 40% more time actively caring for their children.
In addition to taking care of their own children and households, many mothers spend time improving their community. In fact, in a 12-month period between 2020 and 2021, nearly two in three mothers living with a child under 18 (59.6%) volunteered with an organization or to improve their neighborhood, according to a Women’s Bureau analysis of the Current Population Survey. The 31% of mothers who volunteered for an organization during this period provided an average of nearly 60 hours of volunteering time.
Even after their children are grown, many mothers continue to provide unpaid care as grandmothers. In 2021, 1.3 million U.S. women were raising their grandchildren – 2.3 million kids in all. These numbers only refer to cases where grandmothers were providing housing and were responsible for most of the daily needs of the grandchildren – they do not account for the hours of babysitting that many grandmothers provide for their grandchildren.
When they have a child, women who work experience a “motherhood wage penalty” that results in lower earnings even after controlling for education, occupation and other characteristics. Over their lifetimes, these lower wages, coupled with reduced work hours due to caregiving obligations, result in employment-related costs to mothers of more than $295,000.

Mothers – and all caregivers – deserve to thrive at home and at work. To achieve this, we need to support both the paid and the unpaid work moms do. This means improving our care infrastructure, including access to affordable child care, free and universal pre-K and adequate paid family and medical leave. It also means ensuring quality jobs with family-sustaining wages for the care workforce. To support both paid and unpaid caregivers, the Biden-Harris Administration issued an executive order to increase access to high-quality care and support caregivers, and the Department of Labor published guidance for employers hoping to take advantage of federal infrastructure funding on how they can support child care and long-term care for their workers.

These policies would likely help many in the U.S. and relieve a significant portion of the pressure on moms. Moreover, they would bolster the U.S. economy. A more robust care infrastructure would likely increase the number of women, especially mothers, who enter the labor market. Indeed, if women’s labor force participation in the U.S. were comparable to that of Canada or Germany – countries that invest more in family-supporting policies – then the U.S. labor force would gain about 5 million more women, generating $775 billion in additional economic activity each year, according to Women’s Bureau estimates.

For more data on mothers in the economy, check out the Women’s Bureau’s website.

Erin George is an Economist at the Women’s Bureau. Gretchen Livingston is the Quantitative Research Branch Chief at the Women’s Bureau.

Holloway.Loryn… Thu, 05/09/2024 - 11:28

Erin George, Gretchen Livingston

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Women's Bureau

Youth Employment: A Foundation for Mental Health and Well-Being

McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov — Wed, 08 May 2024 18:31:53 +0000

Youth Employment: A Foundation for Mental Health and Well-Being

Employment is an important foundation for mental health and well-being. This Mental Health Awareness Month, the U.S. Department of Labor is focused on how employment and pathways to good jobs can support the mental health of young people.

Our new “Youth Employment: A Foundation for Mental Health and Well-Being” emphasis gets to the heart of the matter. In the past, society has viewed mental health and employment as separate issues, but they’re very much connected. A good job offers not only wages and benefits that create financial stability and ensure future security, but also instills a sense of purpose and belonging that motivates us to achieve and grow. For some people, this may mean workplace accommodations and health care benefits that offer access to treatment for mental health conditions or substance use disorders. For young people, in particular, workforce development and career training programs can also be important access points to information, resources, and mentors that can support well-being.

Quality work experiences, including internships, apprenticeships, cooperative education, and mentoring, can produce immediate and long-term benefits for young people, such as financial independence and improved health, both physical and mental.

It is paramount to ensure young people benefit from workforce development programs and supportive services that prepare them for the good jobs being created by President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda. As with all workers, it is also critical to make sure young people know their workplace rights, what resources exist to support their mental health and well-being, and how to access these resources. The workforce system is often a front-line point of contact for young people and can be a valuable ally in identifying and responding to their needs. It is an important part of a community approach essential to creating a “no-wrong-door" culture characterized by seamless access to education, training, wellness services, housing, transportation and other supports needed to successfully transition from youth to adulthood and thrive in the world of work.

Now is the time to commit to bridging the gap between youth employment programs and wellness services. Preparing young people for good jobs requires us to make sure those jobs also support their well-being.

There are many ways our communities can step up to support #YouthMentalHealth.

Young people can take steps to protect, improve, and advocate for their mental health and that of their family, friends, and neighbors.

The workforce system can support a “no wrong door” approach to supportive services, take steps to identify and respond to the mental health and well-being needs of young people, and build workforce in related professions.

Policy makers can encourage programs and supportive practices in the workplace that help mitigate employment disparities and encourage more young people, including those from underserved communities, to work and contribute to their well-being.

Employers can create a mental health friendly workplace culture that fosters well-being, including for young people, through their recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, and benefits practices.

Learn more about each of these areas on our new page. This month and beyond, let’s commit to fostering career success and overall health by getting more young people into good jobs that promote well-being, because good jobs change lives. During Mental Health Awareness Month, tell us what you are doing to support #YouthMentalHealth.

Submit a response by June 15, 2024. And join us on May 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET, to hear department leadership talk about resources and recommendations. Register for the virtual event here.

Julie Su is the acting secretary of labor.

McGinnis.Laura… Wed, 05/08/2024 - 14:31

Julie Su

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Building the Next Generation of Teachers Through Apprenticeship

McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov — Tue, 07 May 2024 21:54:41 +0000

Building the Next Generation of Teachers Through Apprenticeship

Teacher Appreciation Week, May 5-10, is our nation’s opportunity to celebrate and recognize the important role teachers play in developing our nation’s future workforce. For too long, the U.S. has struggled to recruit and retain qualified teachers that also reflect the demographics of their classrooms. To help address these challenges, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education are collaborating to expand access to education careers through Registered Apprenticeship.

Registered Apprenticeship is an effective "earn and learn" model with a long history of establishing career pathways in growing industries by providing structured, paid, on-the-job learning experiences with a mentor combined with job-related technical instruction that leads to a nationally recognized credential. To learn more about Registered Apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeship.gov.

Building on the Biden administration’s Good Jobs Initiative, we’re expanding Registered Apprenticeships for educators and investing in quality teacher preparation programs. These efforts started with a joint effort, leadership, and call to action from our departments through a Dear Colleague Letter for education and workforce leaders to address educator shortages, and investments to support developing, expanding and scaling high-quality and affordable pathways into teaching. This call to action aims to ensure teachers have access to increased pay and better working conditions across the early childhood, K-12 and higher education workforce.

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has continued to partner with the Department of Education to make significant investments to develop and scale teacher apprenticeship programs, including:

Funding a Registered Apprenticeship Industry Intermediary to provide no-cost technical assistance and support to state education agencies, districts, education preparation programs, teacher unions or associations and other partners to help develop and implement high-quality educator Registered Apprenticeship programs.
Awarding over $66 million in State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula grants to 46 states and territories to develop and scale Registered Apprenticeship programs in education and other critical sectors, over $60 million of which went to states that identified education as a targeted sector.
Awarding funding to Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Washington and New Hampshire to support the expansion of Registered Apprenticeship programs for K-12 teachers.
Awarding more than $171 million in Apprenticeship Building America grants to strengthen and modernize Registered Apprenticeship programs and enable workers to find a reliable pathway to the middle class, more than $45 million of which went to grantees that identified education as a target sector.

We also recently announced the availability of nearly $200 million to support Registered Apprenticeship expansion, prioritizing projects that support the Investing in America agenda by increasing access to Registered Apprenticeships in high-demand sectors and occupations, including K-12 teacher occupations. Strategies to use Registered Apprenticeship to train a next generation of teachers continue to expand, with 37 states and territories now providing K-12 teacher apprenticeship programs, up from just two states in 2022. Today, over 100 K-12 teacher Registered Apprenticeship programs have been registered and over 3,000 K-12 teacher apprentices have been trained. That’s a lot of progress made in just two years! And this administration is committed to ensuring that progress continues.

To support raising awareness around K-12 teacher Registered Apprenticeships, ETA industry intermediary partner RTI International published a Profile in Educator Registered Apprenticeship Programs report, which explores different program design models, varying target populations, modernized onramps to successful teacher pathways, innovative funding models, and opportunities for degree attainment.

The report is the first in a series, which ETA will release in partnership with RTI to explore various strategies to expand the use of Registered Apprenticeship to train America’s educators. K-12 teacher Registered Apprenticeship programs will continue to play a key role in increasing pathways to rewarding careers in the education sector, filling vacant positions with high-quality, well-trained teachers, and a focus on diversifying the workforce. For additional information on any of these programs, please visit Apprenticeship.gov.

Manny Lamarre is a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.

McGinnis.Laura… Tue, 05/07/2024 - 17:54

Manny Lamarre

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Mothers’ employment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but the child care crisis persists.

Holloway.Lorynn.N@dol.gov — Mon, 06 May 2024 17:00:53 +0000

Mothers’ employment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but the child care crisis persists.

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the precariousness of both employment and the caregiving infrastructure across the country. The huge shock to the economy, when coupled with the closure of schools and paid caregiving facilities, wreaked havoc on employment rates, and mothers’ employment in particular plummeted 15.7% from February to April 2020*. While many mothers stopped working during this time because their employers shut down, others left the labor force because they had no other option than to provide full-time care for their loved ones.

Now, four years later, overall maternal employment has largely recovered from the steep declines experienced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the share of employed mothers is 1.9% higher now than in February 2020, according to a Women’s Bureau analysis of the Current Population Survey. And while the speed of employment recovery varied for different groups of mothers, as of February 2024, maternal employment has more or less recovered for most groups of moms. For many groups of mothers – Asian moms, Hispanic moms, those with a bachelor’s degree and those whose youngest child is younger than six years – employment rates now exceed pre-pandemic levels. For other groups of mothers – those with less than a bachelor’s degree and those whose youngest child is 13 to 17 years old – employment rates now hover around pre-pandemic levels.

ACROSS MANY DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPS, MORE MOMS ARE EMPLOYED NOW THAN PRIOR TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Percent Change in Mothers’ Employment in February 2024 Relative to February 2020

One factor that may have contributed to the growth in employment for some U.S. mothers is the increasing prevalence of telework. In 2023, about 24.2% of mothers reported working from home at some point in the prior week, with rates rising to 26.8% among mothers with whose youngest child is under the age of six, according to a Women’s Bureau analysis of the Current Population Survey.

Although telework may be a valuable strategy for integrating work and family responsibilities for some, it is by no means a panacea. Many jobs – particularly service jobs, healthcare occupations and jobs in education – often do not offer telework options. Similarly, telework is often unavailable for those with less education: While 34% of mothers with only a bachelor’s degree and 36% of mothers with an advanced degree reported teleworking in the prior week, only 4% of mothers with less than a high school diploma reported teleworking. And even for those workers who can access it, telework is not a substitute for adequate, accessible and affordable child care. Indeed, child care availability has become even more constrained as many child care providers closed permanently or lost workers during the pandemic.

When a family has child care issues, mothers miss work or reduce work hours more often than fathers. In 2023, among employed parents who did not work in the prior week, 3.1% of mothers and 1.1% of fathers reported child care problems as the reason for not working, according to a Women’s Bureau analysis of the Current Population Survey. Similarly, among employed parents who normally worked full-time but worked part-time in the prior week, 3.9% of mothers and 1.5% of fathers reported child care problems as the reason for working fewer hours.

MORE MOMS THAN DADS TAKE TIME OFF WORK FOR CHILD CARE
Percent of Employed Parents Who Did Not Work or Worked Part-Time in the Prior Week Due to Child Care Problems

Expanding and strengthening the U.S. care infrastructure could help alleviate these work disruptions and likely bolster mothers’ employment. Research from the Women’s Bureau finds that a 10% decrease in median child care prices in a county is associated with a 1% increase in maternal employment. Improving the care infrastructure also means ensuring quality jobs and family-sustaining wages for child care workers.

Expanded access to policies like paid family and medical leave could also improve stability in employment hours among those employed and reduce gender disparities in labor supply. While maternal employment has recovered and even exceeded pre-pandemic levels, the employment rate of mothers (71.7% in February 2024) remains far lower than that of fathers (92.0%). Estimates suggest that if the U.S. had a labor force participation rate similar to Canada or Germany – countries that both have national paid leave and more comprehensive family-supporting policies – the number of women employed would increase by about 5 million and generate over $775 billion in economic activity a year. Although their employment has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels, the lack of a robust care infrastructure may continue to prevent mothers from achieving their full potential in the labor force.

*Unless specified otherwise, data applies to mothers ages 25 to 54 with children under 13.

Erin George is an Economist at the Women’s Bureau.

Holloway.Loryn… Mon, 05/06/2024 - 13:00

Erin George

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Women's Bureau

Youth Apprenticeship Week is Here!

McGinnis.Laura.K@dol.gov — Mon, 06 May 2024 13:25:04 +0000

Youth Apprenticeship Week is Here!

We are excited to celebrate the first Youth Apprenticeship Week (YAW)! From May 5 to 11, 2024, we are celebrating the incredible opportunities that Registered Apprenticeship programs offer to our young workforce.

Registered Apprenticeship stands as a pivotal strategy in addressing our nation's workforce demands across vital sectors like education, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, clean energy, cybersecurity, and other critical areas. This approach gains significance especially in light of the administration's landmark federal investments through acts like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act, which have spurred growth in high-needs sectors.

Moreover, Registered Apprenticeship can serve as a pathway accelerating young people (ages 16-24) into high-quality, financially rewarding jobs while also fostering diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the workplace. Throughout the week, we will showcase the success and value of Youth Apprenticeship by focusing on a range of daily themes:

Monday: “Parents and Guardians are a Priority” in Registered Apprenticeship
Tuesday: Youth Apprenticeships: Building Awareness, Myth Busting, Partnering with Educational Providers, and Creating Pathways through Pre-Apprenticeship.
Wednesday: Expanding Youth Apprenticeship Opportunities for Underserved Populations
Thursday: National Youth Apprenticeship Signing Day
Friday: Federal Partners Day and Call to Action

Why YAW Matters

Whether you are a student, educator, employer or simply passionate about shaping the future, YAW is your chance to join the movement. YAW is all about empowering our youth and young adults. Imagine being 16–24 years old and having the chance to earn family-sustaining wages while gaining hands-on experience in your chosen field. That’s what Registered Apprenticeship programs provide! These programs bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world experience, setting youth and young adults on a trajectory toward meaningful careers.

Registered Apprenticeships are not just about learning a new skill or occupation; they are about building a sustainable pipeline of talent. As industries evolve, we need skilled workers who can adapt and thrive. YAW showcases how Registered Apprenticeships create a direct link between education and employment, ensuring that young workers are well-prepared for tomorrow’s jobs. Registered Apprenticeship programs allow young people to pursue a meaningful career with experienced professionals supporting them and may include opportunities to earn college credit while doing so. Offering practical training, mentorship and the chance to earn while learning, apprenticeships present a win-win scenario for youth and young adults and employers.

Join the Movement

Remember, YAW is not just a week—it is a movement. Join us in celebrating Youth Apprenticeship Week 2024! Let us empower our future workforce, celebrate their achievements and build a brighter future together!

Host a YAW Event: Organize an event in your community, school, or workplace.
Submit an Event and a Proclamation: Tell us about your YAW event or proclamation, and we will highlight it on our website.
Spread the Word: Use #YAW2024 and #ApprenticeshipUSA on social media. For more information, visit the official YAW page.

Manny Lamarre is a senior policy advisor in the department’s Employment and Training Administration.

McGinnis.Laura… Mon, 05/06/2024 - 09:25

Manny Lamarre

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