Author: Paul Davidson, USA TODAY

The contagious omicron variant may force many restaurant, store, hotel and other workers to quarantine if they test positive under a federal mandate.

The stock market will be closed on Friday, Christmas Eve, in observance of Christmas, which falls on Saturday this year.

Omicron has thrown a return to the office into disarray, perhaps for months. Among companies pausing reopenings are Apple, Ford and Fidelity.

The minimum wage is set to rise in 21 states, 35 cities and counties as movement toward $15 an hour continues to grow.

With inflation surging, the Fed clears the way for earlier, faster rate hikes by accelerating wind-down of a bond-buying stimulus program.

The Fed has kept its key rate near zero since the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a deep recession in March 2020.

The consumer price index rose 6.8% annually in November, the most since 1982, as supply snarls, labor shortages pushed inflation higher.

A growing number of job applicants are adding their COVID-19 vaccination status to their resumes. Some who don’t are getting screened out.

The number of people quitting jobs fell from 4.4 million to 4.2 million in October. Job openings increased to 11 million, near all-time high.

Hiring slowed last month, with just 210,000 jobs added, and COVID hurdles clouding the outlook for the labor market. The unemployment rate fell.