Your coworkers are checked out — and other happenings in the world of work

Welcome back to The Work Shift, a weekly newsletter that keeps you informed about the economy, labor market and evolving world of work through data-driven insights. Click subscribe to be notified of future editions.

Catch up on headlines from the last 7 days.

• Jobless claims dipped to a 3-month low. The U.S. labor market remains strong despite recession fears. Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 for the week of September 3, its lowest level since May, with new job gains above pre-COVID levels and job openings near record highs.?
• The Fed is mulling another interest rate hike, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated last week. The Fed raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points in both June and July in an effort to slow inflation, which remains at decades-high levels. The market is anticipating yet another 0.75 percentage point hike later this month.?
• Job switchers are still winning the biggest raises, even though most Americans want to hold on to their jobs right now. According to new research , job switchers are seeing an average 8.5% salary bump upon leaving, while coworkers who stayed behind are seeing an average 5.9% bump.
• Small businesses might be tapping the breaks on hiring, according to new surveys . Rising rent prices and labor costs are holding entrepreneurs back, with 63% of small business owners implementing hiring freezes, citing feelings of financial insecurity.
• Workcations are all the rage right now. Travel industry experts said they’ve seen a recent uptick in hotel occupancy on Thursdays and Sundays, showing that those on business trips may also be catching some time by the pool.?
• Female bosses are more likely to pay better than their male counterparts, according to a new study . While both genders reported wanting to pay themselves the most, women were “more consistent” when it came to choosing fair compensation packages.
• Too much downtime might actually be bad for you. A recent study of 35,000 people found that the happiest people have about two to five hours of leisure time each day. Those who have over five hours of free time report lower levels of happiness — likely because too much downtime “undermines one’s sense of purpose.”

Take a closer look at recent trending topics — and engage with meaningful conversations happening on LinkedIn.

'Quiet quitters' make up half our workforce

• Your coworkers are potentially totally checked out. A new survey from Gallup found that at least 50% of workers are handling their responsibilities on the job — but are completely disengaged. The ratio of engaged to actively disengaged employees is now 1.8 to 1, the lowest in almost a decade. That plays right into “quiet quitting,” the viral idea that millions are only meeting the expectations of their job descriptions and actively avoiding going above and beyond.?
• The plummet in employee engagement levels started in the second half of 2021 and survey respondents reported the decline was related to limited opportunities to grow, not feeling cared about at work and not feeling a connection to one’s organization. Some workers argue that these feelings don’t amount to “quiet quitting,” but rather “acting your wage.” Either way, communications strategist Mai El-Kinawi commented , “triggers a domino effect where work is then unfairly distributed” and can ultimately result in a “further aggravated” company culture, with half of employees totally disengaged and the other half woefully burnt out.?
• Heather Barrett, a consultant at Gallup, commented that it’s on management to address the trend. The sooner employers “align on expectations, recognize performance, understand boundaries and have meaningful conversations with team members,” the sooner employees will feel more inclined to outperform expectations.

Working mother just caught up to how much fathers made last year

• It took until September 8th for working mothers to earn just as much as fathers earned last year. On average, working moms make just 74 cents for every dollar paid to a dad, according to new research from the National Women’s Law Center.
• The disparity has downstream impact, too. “The earnings gap later turns into a huge difference in Social Security between former working moms and their husbands,” Evelyn McHugh, a former accounts payable specialist, commented . She said her husband, who spent fewer years in the workforce on account of not holding an office job until later in life, gets “almost a thousand dollars a month more” in Social Security than she does. “He has pensions. I never worked anywhere where pensions were offered to non-male management,” she continued. “The inequalities of the past live on."
• Moms aren’t the only ones struggling. Most women fear limited financial opportunity because of potential discrimination based on gender, age, ethnicity and more, according to a recent AARP survey . Heidi Morris, a baby boomer physician, commented that she was earning $35,000 less than her male counterparts in her first job following her residency. “The wage disparity continues,” she said. Her advice to women fearing that outcome is to assess every potential job carefully. Ask yourself: Are there women and other minorities within the company? Are there women in positions of power?

Remote work is down and hybrid is up

• More than half of workers are back to working onsite. The percentage of in-person workers (52%) has risen steadily as COVID restrictions have eased, and the percentage of remote workers (29%) has dipped in kind, according to LinkedIn’s latest Workforce Confidence survey . Hybrid arrangements are also gaining popularity, with 17% of workers saying they split their time between home and the office.
• Hybrid is also proving to be more popular among women. About 20% of women report splitting their time while some 14% of men do. Hybrid is particularly attractive to working mothers, IT professional Sudha Karuppiah noted . “In my opinion, women tend to take more attentive household responsibility towards kids and household chores,” she said, which makes the ability to work from home occasionally essential to work-life balance.
• Traci Wilson, a director of talent acquisition for an engineering and IT company, commented that she has found it “increasingly hard” to fill on-site roles as IT workers have “grown accustomed to working remotely” and the lifestyle it affords. She herself works hybrid. “I found that when I work from home I am more likely to work late hours and on the weekends because that is when candidates are available,” she said. Even despite the blurred line between work and home, she said hybrid allows her to build a life that works for her. “If nothing else, the pandemic has changed not only how we work, but how we think about work,” she concluded.

Get ready for the week by seeing what's coming up.

• Tuesday, September 13: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the monthly Consumer Price Index for August, which measures inflation through the price of goods and services.
• Wednesday, September 14: The monthly Producer Price Index will be released. Different from the Consumer Price Index, it measures inflation based on costs to those who make products, not those who consume them.
• Wednesday, September 14: LinkedIn Senior Editor at Large George Anders will release his latest edition of Workforce Insights , digging into the strength of weak ties.
• Thursday, September 14: The Census Bureau will release its monthly retail sales report. The report is an indicator of consumer spending and general economic activity.
• Thursday, September 15: The Labor Department will release initial jobless claims for the previous week. The report, a proxy for layoffs, tracks the number of people filing for unemployment benefits.