Guess who’s back, back again? The JOLTS report! After a multiple-month pause due to the government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data for September and October. The latest report is, as usual, a mixed bag. While job openings ticked up slightly from the late summer, hiring continued to stagnate overall. With turnover getting more sluggish, employers may have an employee-resentment time bomb on their hands, experts say.

Diving into the data. Employers had around 7.7 million job openings in September and October, up from 7.2 million in August. That topline increase in openings could signal a change from the declining job openings seen earlier this year.

At the same time, though, employers made 5.1 million hires in October, unchanged from August and a decline of 225,000 from September. Job seekers have expressed frustrations searching for jobs as businesses have pulled back on hiring and been accused of ghosting candidates.

Zoom out. Labor turnover in the US has largely stagnated in 2025. Some employers have pulled back on hiring, and workers—unconfident about job search prospects—have primarily stayed put in their jobs. Before HR leaders start patting themselves on the back over their low attrition rates, they may want to get clear-eyed about what’s possibly brewing underneath.

For more on what HR needs to know about the latest JOLTS report, keep reading here.—PM

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the world’s largest HR organization with 340,000 members, lost a racial discrimination lawsuit on Dec 5.

Catch up. Rehab Mohamed, the plaintiff, alleged in a June 2022 lawsuit that SHRM, her employer of four years, fired her shortly after she filed a racial discrimination complaint, HR Brew reported previously. Mohamed, who is Black and Egyptian, claimed she was fired “weeks” after she issued a complaint to CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr. and then-CHRO Sean Sullivan. SHRM claimed that she was fired for performance issues, but admitted that Mohamed was promoted just months before her termination.

Mohamed v. Society for Human Resource Management found that SHRM violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits race discrimination in contractual relationships, including employment contracts and protects against retaliation. The jury awarded Mohamed $1.5 million in compensatory damages, and $10 million in punitive damages, according to court records.

Zoom out. SHRM has been embroiled in multiple controversies around discrimination and DEI in recent years.

For more on the lawsuit, and recent criticism SHRM has faced, keep reading here.—KP

The US is running low on primary care physicians, and high levels of burnout aren’t helping.

A Nov. 20 survey from healthcare research foundation the Commonwealth Fund found 43% of US primary care physicians (PCPs) felt burned out. That’s more than any other country in the study, though it was followed closely by New Zealand (38%) and Canada (38%).

The most common reason cited for burnout? Administrative burden.

Jen Brull, board chair of professional organization the American Academy of Family Physicians, recommended employers make sure employees are comfortable speaking up about mental health concerns.

For more on burnout among primary care physicians, keep reading on Healthcare Brew.—CC

Who said desk calendars have to be boring? Introducing the Morning Brew 2026 Daily Games Desk Calendar. It’s perfect for desks, nightstands, and kitchen counters, so give yourself (or others) the gift of entertaining coffee breaks.