17 August 2021
Companies are acting where government is not and pushing workers to get the jab to get the job.
Driving the news: The share of job postings on Indeed requiring vaccination has jumped 90% in just the last month.
The big picture: Vaccination rates in the U.S. are climbing, but hesitancy remains high in certain places. And the Delta variant is foiling companies' return-to-work plans.
- Now, it's not just front-line jobs at restaurants and shops requiring vaccination. Postings for jobs in software development, marketing and sales are mandating that applicants have the shot too.
What's happening: At the beginning of the year, there were basically zero office jobs asking workers to get the vaccine. But even if workers are 100% remote, they'll have to come on-site at some point to meet with colleagues — and firms don't want to take risks.
And even though the overall number of job postings requiring vaccination is still quite small — just about 1,200 per 1 million postings — they're increasing at a rapid clip. "This is incredible growth," says Indeed economist AnnElizabeth Konkel.
- The share of software development jobs postings requiring vaccination has skyrocketed 12,400%, from a minuscule 3.5 per million to 438 per million.
- Marketing jobs have seen an 11,100% jump to 1,110 per million, and sales a 4,100% increase to 374 per million.
- Big companies that are now requiring proof of vaccination — at least to come into the office — include Google, Facebook, Netflix, Disney, Morgan Stanley, Lyft and The Washington Post.
Even jobs that already tended to require vaccination — like those in education, retail and hospitality — are doing so at even higher rates.
The bottom line: This is yet another example of companies acting like governments.
- Even if cities, states or the federal government choose not to mandate vaccination, firms can throw their weight around and effectively set policy by requiring it for their employees or customers — or both.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.