Labor Market
Raise Budgets Settle at 3.5%
Payscale and The Conference Board both put 2027 salary increase budgets at 3.5 percent. WTW is a notch lower at 3.4.
Pay and Benefits
8 stories
Compliance
Delaware, Minnesota and Maine Begin Paying Family Leave Benefits
Delaware, Minnesota and Maine began paying family and medical leave benefits this year. Kentucky has no program of its own, but employers with even a single worker in those states now carry new obligations.
Compliance
Pay Range Rules Now Reach 16 States and Washington, D.C.
Virginia and Maine joined the list this summer, Delaware follows in 2027, and city ordinances keep spreading. Employers in states without a law still need to know where their postings land.
Compliance
Overtime Salary Threshold Returns to $684 a Week
The Labor Department formally removed the 2024 overtime rule in May. The salary line is settled for now, which puts more weight on whether each exempt employee's work actually qualifies.
Labor Market
Using Federal Wage Data to Set Pay for 2027
Average hourly earnings reached $38.00 in October. BLS occupational data for a metro area is a better guide to what a specific job should pay.
Kentucky
Kentucky's Rest Break and Seventh-Day Overtime Rules, Explained
Kentucky requires a paid 10-minute break for every four hours worked, which federal law does not. It can also require overtime on a seventh straight day.
Compliance
FMLA Basics Employers Still Get Wrong
The FMLA covers private employers with 50 or more workers, and its 75-mile rule reaches small branches. Supervisors often miss requests that never name the law.
Employer Branding
Showing Workers What Their Benefits Are Really Worth
Benefits make up about 30 percent of private-sector compensation costs, according to the BLS. Most employees never see that number.
The Weekly Workforce Briefing
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