We’ve got good news and bad news.

Earlier this month, the Department of Labor announced its final rule aimed at reclassifying more contractors as company employees. The rule sets out a stricter formula for determining whether a worker can be considered a contractor, and will likely boost the number of employees some companies have on their books.

This was good news for workers’ rights advocates who say the rule will help ensure more workers are appropriately classified as company employees, guaranteeing them some basic protections.

It was bad news for business groups that claim the rule limits worker autonomy. The rule “will decrease flexibility and opportunity” for those wishing to work as independent contractors, Marc Freedman, Chamber of Commerce VP of workplace policy, said in a statement.

And for some CFOs, it could be expensive news.

Click here for more on how the new rule could impact labor costs.—AZ

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“We have turned the page on 2023. Goodbye and good riddance,” John Roberts, CEO of trucking company J.B. Hunt, said during the company’s Q4 earnings call last week.

J.B. Hunt, a Fortune 500 freight transportation company, saw its revenue drop to $12.83 billion, or 13%, for the year, and by 9% since Q3. Its diluted EPS fell 24% for the year and 23% for the quarter.

2023 was a tough year, not only for J.B. Hunt, but for the trucking sector in general. Overcapacity has driven prices down in what’s been termed a “freight recession.” Logistics executives expect the freight recession to continue through at least the first half of 2024, according to a CNBC supply chain survey.

“We are under immense cost pressure,” Darren Field, president of J.B. Hunt’s intermodal sector, said in the earnings call. He noted that inflation has contributed to higher costs for equipment and maintenance, higher railroad rates, and higher wages for drivers. “Across the board, we have cost increases and that inflationary cost lives across our enterprise.”

For more on how the freight recession is playing out, click here.—Courtney Vien

The US economy ended 2023 on a strong note, with employers adding 216,000 jobs to their payrolls—higher than analysts had expected—and wages rising 4.1% from the previous year. Fears of a recession calmed, while stocks closed out the year close to record highs.

The continued strength of the labor market evidently had an impact on workers’ attitudes about their jobs, as a higher share of them asked for raises and promotions last year, according to new data from business intelligence company Morning Consult. Some 34% and 26% of employed US adults surveyed in December said they’d asked for a raise or promotion in the last year, up from 30% and 22% the year prior.

Jobs, wages hold strong. Even though labor market indicators such as employment, job openings, and wage growth have been cooling down from the historic highs the US saw in 2021 and 2022, the continued tightness of the labor market is still fueling confidence among workers, Jesse Wheeler, senior economist for Morning Consult, told HR Brew. He noted wage growth is now outpacing inflation, and nominal wages saw their largest monthly increase since June 2023 in December.

“People are out there still getting wage increases, and the labor market remains tight,” he said. “We’re seeing that in our data.”

Continue reading HR Brew’s story on employee wage requests here.—Courtney Vinopal

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 57%. That’s how much cargo theft spiked in 2023 compared to the year before, according to data from theft prevention network CargoNet. Scott Cornell, national practice transportation lead at Travelers Insurance, told CNBC, “We’re at an all-time high.” (CNBC)

Quote: “The pendulum has swung back, and the power is in the hands of the hiring managers.”—LinkedIn career expert Catherine Fisher, on reports that the labor market is becoming tougher for job-hopping white-collar professionals. ⏮️ (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: Watch this space; TikTok usage has started to slow, and lots of fingers are pointing at the app’s pivot into e-commerce as the primary culprit. (TechCrunch)

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