The number of open US jobs dropped to 6.5 million in December, marking the lowest level since 2020.

Job openings data was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Feb. 5, two days later than anticipated, due to a partial federal government shutdown that occurred earlier in the week.

The December decline was steeper than analysts had expected. Job openings declined steadily starting in September 2025, and stood at 6.9 million in November.

A number of external factors, including tariffs, geopolitical tension, and high inflation, likely contributed to the pullback, Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist with ZipRecruiter, told HR Brew. “All of these things are adding layers and layers of uncertainty onto business outlooks,” she said.

For more on what HR needs to know about the latest job openings data, keep reading here.—CV

The US Treasury recently held an event to celebrate the forthcoming launch of “Trump Accounts,” which are slated to roll out on July 5.

A provision in the Republican tax and spending bill that was enacted last year calls on the Treasury to give savings accounts to every US baby born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028, seeded with $1,000 from the federal government.

While the Treasury-run pilot program will automatically open up Trump Accounts for babies born during Trump’s second term, parents can open an account on behalf of any child under the age of 18. Parents and employers can contribute up to $5,000 a year to these accounts, $2,500 of which is not taxed. Once Trump account holders turn 18, the savings vehicle will take the form of an individual retirement account.

A number of large employers have already committed to making Trump account contributions on behalf of their workers’ children, though the Treasury is still ironing out regulatory details about the plans.

For more on the companies that have committed to make Trump account contributions, keep reading here.—CV

Employees prefer to, if not dance, then certainly work like no one’s watching.

In a September 2025 report, Gartner found that employees who felt “overmonitored” were up to 24% less inclined to stay at a company. Meanwhile, employees had 7% lower workplace engagement when they faced consequences as a result of their company monitoring their activity.

You might think that companies concerned about employee retention and morale would curb their use of motivation-killing monitoring tools, but it remains popular: Almost seven in 10 (69%) respondents to the Gartner survey said their organization monitors them, with over a third (35%) reporting their company examines activity on work devices such as laptops and phones.

For more on the challenges associated with tracking employee productivity, keep reading on IT Brew.—BH

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s weekly news quiz has been compared to getting a company-wide shout out from your boss. It’s that satisfying.