Cincinnati, OH, USA. Day labor halls can be grim, rule-bound, low-paid sources of work for the homeless, unemployed or underemployed workers, ex-convicts and others on the lowest rungs of America's socioeconomic ladder.

Day labor halls are privately run temp agencies that provide a form of daily employment where potential workers show up at pre-dawn hours in the hope of landing a day's work. What is even worse than the perceived undesirability of these jobs is their decreasing availability in m

Washington, DC, USA. Civil service rules that haven’t changed in decades are being re-assessed by several governors bent on major changes in the system.

Try this: your boss offers you a 5 percent raise. The only catch is that in return you risk being fired at any time, without any right to an explanation. Would you take it?

Washington, DC, USA. Two judges have ruled that their states cannot make existing employees contribute more toward their retirement benefits.

A pair of recent court rulings could slow down their state lawmakers’ efforts to increase contributions from current employees to prop up troubled public pension plans.

Pierre, SD, USA. South Dakota has so many open private-sector jobs that its governor recently signed a contract with Manpower, the international staffing firm, to recruit 1,000 workers from other states to fill them.

Job seekers who walk into one of the 700 recruitment centers run by the Manpower company around the United States soon may be asked a question that has nothing to do with their professional qualifications.

Racine, WI, USA. A year after union protests swept Wisconsin’s Capitol, labor and management are still grappling with the collective bargaining law that prompted the backlash.

Leaders of local governments and schools enjoy having more options to balance their budgets, but state funding cuts often outweigh the benefits.