Canada increases wage threshold under temporary worker program:  Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has announced an increase in the wage threshold under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), effective June 27, 2025. This change impacts whether an application for a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is submitted under the High Wage or Low Wage Stream.  For LMIA applications submitted on or after June 27, 2025, the hourly wage for workers coming into Canada through the High-Wage stream will be increased to the median wage in the applicable province or territory of work. For example, employers in Ontario previously needed to offer an hourly wage of $34.07 CAD or higher. Effective immediately, this has increased to $36.00 CAD or higher. Employers in British Columbia previously needed to offer an hourly wage of $34.62 CAD or higher, which has now increased to $36.60 CAD per hour.  If a foreign national's wage is at or above the wage threshold listed above (in the province where their employment is based), then the employer must apply under the high-wage stream of the TFWP. If a foreign national's wage is below the wage threshold in the relevant province, then the employer must apply under the low-wage stream of the TFWP.  Source: Green and Spiegel 7/3/25

Streamlining the hiring process will aid Gen Z recruitment:  A new study from financial consulting firm Clarify Capital found that many young job seekers find companies' application processes to be "too long, costly, or frustrating," causing them to stop short before completion. In addition to the time investment, factors like lack of money for interview attire and travel expenses for in-person meetings with hiring managers are taking a major toll.  For HR leaders, this is an opportunity to evaluate whether your hiring processes are accessible, or if they're sabotaging your search for talent, says Michael Baynes, Clarify Capital's co-founder and CEO. Adding insult to injury, the majority of Gen Z job candidates who do complete the application process are being left high and dry: Out of 86% who are looking for a job, only a fraction successfully found a job in their last search. Many also reported encountering scams, ghost jobs, and delayed or no response from the employer.  "A vague listing, drawn-out application, and total silence after submission might be standard practice, but it's driving Gen Z out of the workforce before they even get in," Baynes says. "Streamlined, respectful hiring is no longer a nice-to-have. It's essential if companies want to compete for fresh talent."  Source: EBN  6/6/25

20% of workers have taken on side hustles:  Remote has released the results from its Workforce Pulse Survey of 2,000 full-time, salaried or desk-based U.S. workers aged 22–64, which reveals that just 17% of employees feel employers are providing the resources and support they need to feel stable and motivated amid rising stress, fading motivation, and growing financial strain. This finding comes as 62% report higher work-related stress than a year ago, while just 24% describe themselves as ‘very motivated’ at work relative to this time last year. In response to their anxiety, 18% of employees have already taken on a second job or side hustle, and another 57% are considering one in order to stay afloat financially. Their most pressing worries? Retirement and financial security (60%), the looming threat of layoffs (45%), and concerns about employability if they lose their current position (44%).  The survey also reveals significant economic anxiety. 79% of respondents expressed increased concern about the country's economic direction compared to last year, and 67% reported being worried about the economy's impact on their current job.  Source: Remote.com

U.S. workers are lagging in math:  A report, produced by Gallup in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has put $1.1 billion dollars into grantmaking to improve math education, surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. adults and an additional 2,831 workplace managers about their attitudes toward math and their perspective on the subject’s role in their personal and professional lives.  More than 60% of math teachers say their lowest-performing students are two or more grade levels behind, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey from this year.  Most U.S. adults think that math skills in general are important for the workforce – 61% say these skills are very important, while 35% say they are somewhat important. But not everything that students learn in school is equally relevant, they say. Of the 16% of Americans who said high school math wasn’t important, about 80% said that it was more advanced than what they needed to use in their real life.  Yet when asked which math skills they wished they had learned more about in middle or high school, about 1 in 5 said they wanted to know more about data science, such as how to manage spreadsheets or large amounts of information.  Young Americans are not excited by math.  Source: Education Week 6/4/25

OFCCP asks for contractors to voluntarily provide DEI information:  On June 27, 2025, federal government contractors received an email from OFCCP Director Catherine Eschbach offering them the “opportunity” to “provide information about their efforts to wind down compliance with the [Executive Order] 11246 regulatory scheme and ensure full compliance with the Nation’s non-discrimination laws.”¹ Contractors are invited to provide this information in narrative form through the Contractor Portal that OFCCP previously established for contractors to use to certify compliance with the requirements of Executive Order 11246. Executive Order 11246, which was revoked by President Trump’s Executive Order 14173 on January 22, 2025, prohibited discrimination by federal contractors against women and minorities and required affirmative action to remove any barriers to equal employment opportunity related to sex, race, or ethnicity. The Director’s email makes it clear that the decision to submit any information is entirely voluntary. The Director’s email does not discuss the direct benefits from providing information in the Contractor Portal, nor does the email indicate how OFCCP will use any information that is provided.  Source: Littler 6/27/25