Swindon, UK. An expatriate aid worker will be paid on average four times more (and sometimes much more) than a local employee doing a similar job, with local salaries pushing workers below the poverty line.

The findings have already led to the formation of an international Task Force to promote a fair day's work for a fair day's pay for workers and to develop organizational capacity in lower income countries.

Fairfax, VA, USA. Shifting demographics present challenges for public workforces. Many Baby Boomers have been delaying their retirements because of the economy, but retirement incentive programs and cuts to benefits may be changing that.

As horrible as the ongoing economic slump has been for state governments, it brought with it at least one positive side effect: putting off, if only temporarily, a long-feared brain drain caused by large numbers of veteran state workers retiring. But that may b

University Park, PA, USA. Employees often suspect that participating in work-family programs could harm their careers, and prior research studies have shown they are right to be worried. Employees who use the programs are at risk of fewer promotions and lower wages than those who do not.

But now, two researchers have shown how employees could gain the intended benefits of work-family programs — such as flexible schedules with prorated pay — without harming their careers.

Augusta, ME, USA. Governor Paul LePage (R-ME) thinks letting young people ages 16 and over work longer hours is a good idea. Critics accuse him of seeking to undo labor regulations that have been widely accepted for decades.

Many long-dormant personnel issues have re-emerged in the states this year as Republican governors seek to change the rules for managing the public workforce. But nobody expected controversy over the personnel issue that has come to the surface in Maine: child labor.

Fairfax, VA, USA. The damage done by the Great Recession to state public pension systems is now clearer than ever.

The most recent figures, for FY2009, show a gap between what states had set aside to pay for employee retirement benefits and the amount they promised the workers, growing to $1.26 trillion, or 26 percent in one year. The report os from the Pew Center on the States, covering the worst budget year of the recession, including the Wall Street financial crisis in September, 2008.