Delta Air Lines’ 15,000 pilots are in line for raises of 34% by late 2026. UAW members working at Caterpillar have agreed to a six-year deal that, if ratified, will give them a 7% raise right away and another 4% in each of 2025, 2027 and 2028. A trade group says construction firms need to attract 546,000 new workers this year after averaging a record 390,000 openings per month in 2022.
     Despite lots of layoff news and a slower hiring pace, 2023’s market for labor remains very constrained and even more expensive, with longer-term dynamics unable to promise real relief.
     And while a solid cross-section of industrial executives feel better about hiring dynamics, they know they need to continue to invest both in being a better employer and in tech that will let them be a leaner employer. That includes both giving four-day weeks a try and doubling down on automation projects – and looks likely for some to include providing childcare so the pie can grow.
     “Just as any individual firm will have an incentive to try to compete away workers from peers in an already tight labor market, coordinating firms to increase participation overall is an important labor market move,” Mike Konczal with the Roosevelt Institute wrote last week.
     Coordination over competition isn’t a common instinct among CEOs. But a shallow recession and a few more union deals with big numbers might push more leaders to take a swing at something new.