Employers

Amity Shlaes is a Bloomberg News columnist and a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations Margins matter. That's what New Hampshire lawmakers were really saying to Gov. John Lynch when they overrode his veto of legislation that limits minimum-wage increases. The law ties the New Hampshire minimum wage to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The effect is to guarantee New Hampshire employers an advantage of between 15 cents and $1 an hour over other employers in New England, where minimum wages range from $7.40 an hour in Rhode Island to $8.25 in Connecticut.

As federal and state governments pull back on child-care aid and struggle to find affordable ways to help families with problems of elder care, family advocates are looking to the private sector for more help. They're urging employers to let caregivers have more flexible schedules to ease the burden of looking after young children and frail parents. Doing so can actually pay off for both the worker and the employer, as suggested by researchers writing for the Future of Children's Work and Family project, a collaboration between Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.

KHALIAH MARTIN might not be spending her summer the same way as most teenagers, but she likes it that way. "It's always something new every day," said the 15-year-old. As a participant in the University City District's summer-jobs program, Martin and 10 other high school students have researched HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy and developed ways to present their findings to the community, learning a few things Martin described as "shocking" and gaining valuable collaboration skills.

WASHINGTON - U.S. combat troops patrol dusty pathways in Afghanistan, look for hidden roadside bombs, load and fire mortar shells at insurgents' positions. When they come home, how will that help them land civilian jobs? They can "be a mercenary," mused Capt. John Rodriguez, who will leave the Army soon after six years. That's just the kind of thinking the government wants to change, however, both among American employers and members of the armed forces. In fact, the skills troops use in combat can be useful for many types of civilian jobs, though employers often don't understand them and the people leaving the military need help with presenting those skills or developing new ones.

FORMER REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Herman Cain wants employers to advise their employees about how to vote in the Nov. 6 general election. Cain, speaking to about 30 people at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia Friday as part of his 30-day "Truth Tour," said employers must educate their workers about the presidential candidates' public policy proposals. "Because one of the reasons we had to do this truth tour is that stupid people are ruining America," Cain declared. "Some of them don't know they're stupid.

WHAT'S A half-billion dollars in public money buy you in Philly these days? Not much, apparently, if it's spent on substandard workforce- development initiatives while the economy is tanking. A report released yesterday by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Philadelphia Research Initiative found that the city's job-training and placement programs have burned through $493 million in the last four years - but only 12 percent of the city's employers are registered to participate in them.

Until he began his new job this week, Mark Forman was an unemployed audiovisual technician from Roxborough, out of work, except for a few side jobs, for more than a year. He turned to Philadelphia's workforce system, CareerLink, for help finding something, but he said it proved to be a waste of time that did not lead to his new position. "Usually, the jobs I found posted on CareerLink I found everywhere else," Forman said. "I remember that applying for a job, I typed and typed, and then it sent me to the company website, and I had to do it all over again.

PHOENIX - Women in Arizona trying to get reimbursed for birth control drugs through their employer-provided health plan could be required to prove that they are taking it for a medical reason such as acne, rather than to prevent pregnancy. A bill nearing passage in the Republican-led Legislature allows all employers, not just religious institutions, to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage when doing so would violate their religious or moral beliefs. When a female worker uses birth control pills, which can be used to treat a number of medical conditions, the bill would allow an employer who opted out to require her to reveal what she was taking it for in order to get reimbursed.

By David Polk Today's work environment is a tough one. With nearly 10 percent of Americans looking for a job, employers have the pick of the litter and can get away with demanding more for less. This can mean long workdays, less compensation, and sometimes poor working conditions. But while employers and managers can take advantage of employees in difficult times like these, they can also take some relatively easy steps to keep them happier. From conducting an annual nationwide survey on professionalism among entry-level employees, as well as spending a lot of time studying workplaces in general, I know employees have a variety of motivations.