Welcome in, today is Friday, August seventh, and we begin with new Bureau of Labor Statistics figures putting labor's share of the American economy at the lowest level on record. Workers' share of United States output fell to fifty-two point nine percent of nominal gross domestic product in the second quarter, down from fifty-three point seven percent in the first, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported the figures Thursday. That is the lowest reading since the series began in nineteen forty-seven. The same release showed stronger than expected productivity growth, with output gains outpacing wage growth. That reporting traces the decline back decades, to the narrowing reach of organized labor and to globalization, and more recently to automation and potentially artificial intelligence, which let companies lift output without substantially adding headcount. Real weekly earnings were essentially unchanged across the first half of twenty twenty-six. For compensation teams, this is the macro backdrop merit budgets are now being set against. Industry reaction leans toward methodological pushback, with some arguing adjusted or net measures show a materially smaller drop. Also today, benefits. HR Executive reports that soaring medical costs are forcing employers to tighten benefits, with medical spend now sitting at the center of employer cost, risk and workforce strategy, and the path to better results growing less straightforward. The timing matters for teams heading into renewal season, when design decisions still have room to move. Among benefits practitioners, reaction leans toward reading the squeeze as a plan-design gap rather than an unavoidable cost shock, with some arguing self-funded employers hold more unused latitude over network construction, pharmacy terms and claims analytics than they assume, and that tightening coverage is the least imaginative lever available. Separately, a federal appeals decision on leave administration. HR Dive reports that the Fourth Circuit has indicated employers do not necessarily have to wait for workers to fix authenticity problems with Family and Medical Leave Act certification documents before clarifying those documents with a provider. That report was published Thursday. The practical question for leave administrators is where their own authentication steps sit against that reading, because the sequence a company follows when a certification looks questionable is precisely what the ruling speaks to. Now, a development on EEO-1, following our earlier report on the Commission's vote to propose ending the demographic filing. Writing in Mondaq, attorneys at Buchanan set out the argument that the compliance work does not disappear when the federal report does. Per that analysis, the proposal would also rescind the EEO-2 through EEO-5 reports, reach contractors with at least fifty workers, and leave the Commission with authority to request race and sex data during investigations and enforcement actions. Comments are due by August twenty-fourth, with the public hearing set for August eleventh. The same analysis advises employers to keep collecting and preserving demographic data until any rule is final, for pay-equity work and for defending claims. Practitioner reaction splits, with some reading the move as removing a statistical baseline enforcement has relied on and others as relief from a reporting burden. Also today, pay planning. Fewer than one in three organizations plan across-the-board increases in twenty twenty-seven, according to new Payscale data reported by HR Executive, which describes many employees as stuck in pay paralysis. Separately, HR Dive reports that thirty percent of United States employers expect salary budgets to be higher year over year in twenty twenty-seven, up substantially from sixteen percent reported last year. Read together, budgets are loosening while the money is being pointed rather than spread, and that lands the explanation burden on HR and on managers. Where practitioners engage on pay, reaction leans toward non-cash factors as the swing variable, with some suggesting stability, manageable schedules and better leadership carry retention when raises stall. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. The UK government has extended its global talent visa scheme to more than one hundred employers, per Personnel Today. The Paychex Small Business Jobs Index held at ninety-nine point two three in July, with average weekly hours up zero point four zero percent, the strongest gain in more than five years. And finally, the EEOC has sued KLLM Driving Academy, alleging in a complaint filed August fifth that female student drivers were required to get spousal approval for on-road training with male instructors, according to Bloomberg Law.