U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta released the fiscal year 2018 budget request for the U.S. Department of Labor. Highlights include:
- a proposal to provide six weeks of paid family leave to new mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents – a program that would be funded and operated by states,
- allocation of $90 million to expand apprenticeships,
- request to establish and retain fees to cover the operating costs for foreign labor certification programs,
- “emphasis on compliance assistance and outreach” by allocating more funds to those areas on the state and federal level (OSHA receives the most of these funds of any division, with $543 million),
- elimination of the Senior Community Service Employment Program, certain Job Corps centers, and some activities of the Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
Read the entire release from the DOL here.