This article provides a roundup of recent news stories related to employment. Team ZipRecruiter will share frequent updates.

• The economy added 531,000 payroll jobs in October, with all major industries contributing job gains, except the public sector. Unemployment fell to 4.6%, and annual wage growth rose to 4.9%, but the labor force participation rate remained flat.

• Inflation hit 6.2%, outstripping average pay gains. Gasoline prices rose about 50% over the year.

• California gas prices hit a new record high. 

• A record 4.4 million workers quit their jobs amid historically high job openings and wage growth.

• Despite strong job growth and wage growth, consumer sentiment fell to the lowest level in a decade, largely driven by concerns about inflation. 

• China’s real-estate giant Evergrande averted a default, but the firm’s debt problems sparked concerns over possible financial contagion.

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) new rules requiring Covid-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for all employees at companies with at least 100 workers were blocked again by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which said that the mandate “grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority.”

• Iowa will allow workers who are fired for failing to abide by Covid-19 vaccination mandates to collect unemployment benefits.  

• Amazon announced it would offer workers greater schedule flexibility, and Starbucks started testing a scheduling app that gives employees greater control over their hours, following similar recent moves by Walmart and other companies with large numbers of low-wage employees.