The job market continued to slow down in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report, released Tuesday. Job openings were unchanged between June and May, and total hires and separations fell slightly. Let’s dig in.

What the data says. Total hires and separations in June fell to 5.3 million and 5.1 million, respectively. That’s a slight decrease from the BLS’s revised estimate of 5.7 million hires and 5.4 million separations in May. Employers posted 8.2 million job openings in June, unchanged from the revised 8.2 million in May. Similarly, the share of workers quitting fell slightly from 3.3 million in June, from a downwardly revised 3.4 million in May.

In short, employers and workers are holding back on hiring and quitting, labor economists told HR Brew. “[Firms would] rather stick to their internal workforce to the extent possible and there’s a little bit of that also, on the worker side—quit rates have come down quite a bit, since the height of the pandemic as well,” Benjamin Friedrich, a professor of strategy at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, told HR Brew. “All of that, I think, is showing that both sides of the market, firms and workers, are very hesitant. They face a lot of uncertainty.”

Zoom out. HR leaders tend to think of turnover as a negative, but too little turnover can be just as bad for a company as too much.

Keep reading here.—PM

Zoomers are set to take over the office. In fact, 2 billion Gen Zers are currently coming of age and will make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. If you’ve got your ear to the ground, you’ve definitely heard things about these up-and-comers—and you probably have a question or two.

Fortunately, Hibob’s new guide to maximizing zoomers’ potential has answers. It addresses 11 challenges that modern companies must contend with when it comes to helping Gen Z crush it in the workplace.

Plus, you’ll get the deets on the three key areas that the new gen prioritizes:

• clear career growth paths
• company alignment to personal values
• a strong sense of community

Get the most out of the future.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is looking into a new United Airlines policy requiring flight attendants to provide a doctor’s note when they call out sick on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays.

The airline informed staff of the new policy over the weekend of July 20, Quartz reported. In an email the outlet viewed, United management expressed concerns about an uptick in flight attendants calling out sick on the weekends, and said this increase “has resulted in the need to require flight attendants to provide verification of an incapacitating illness from an accredited physician when making a sick call.”

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), which represents United employees, said in a statement that the new policy violated the terms of their union contract. Ken Diaz, president of the Master Executive Council of United’s flight attendants, filed a grievance over the airline’s decision to require a certificate of absence on the weekend. On July 25, the DOL said it would work “with the airline and workers to ensure that the company’s leave policies are in compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act.”

What the law says about sick leave documentation. United Airlines has defended the new policy, telling Quartz its contract with the AFA “allows the company to require a physician’s note in cases of suspected abuse of sick time.”

Keep reading here.—CV

On June 24, members of the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill mandating pay transparency. The legislation now awaits a signature from the state’s governor, Maura Healey.

What the Massachusetts bill would require. The bill proposes that Massachusetts employers with 25 or more employees disclose a good faith pay range when they post open positions. Employees seeking a promotion or internal transfer would be entitled to this information, as well.

To better address gender and racial wage gaps, the pay transparency law would also require employers with 100 or more workers to share their federal wage and workforce data reports, including the EEO-1 form, with the state. Massachusetts’ executive office of labor and workforce development will publish aggregated data from these reports, and use it to identify gender and racial wage gaps among different industries, according to the office of the state’s senate president, Karen Spilka.

Preparing for transparency. Should Healey sign the Massachusetts bill, it’ll take effect one year later. Minnesota and Illinois are among other US states with pay transparency legislation set to take effect next year.

Keep reading here.—CV

Revved-up recruiting. Candidate experience is much more than an HR buzzword—it can affect your org’s ability to attract and retain top talent. How is your company perceived? Figure out which experience metrics matter most (and how to improve yours) in Paylocity’s new guide. Give it a read.