Financial Times (February 1)
“Fears of an AI jobs apocalypse are growing. At Davos, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the technology would hit labour markets like a “tsunami.” But much of this is hype or misassigned blame for job losses that really stem from other factors. You shouldn’t “fear the AI ‘jobpocalypse.’ The technology hasn’t yet hit employment notably, and could create more openings.”
Tags: AI, Apocalypse, Davos, Employment, Fears, Hype, Job losses, Labour markets, Misassigned blame, Technology, Tsunami
Washington Post (September 11)
“For the Fed itself, however, we can offer no easy answer to the quandary it’s facing.” Their upcoming rate decision is perilous. “It might seem obvious that the Fed should choose employment over inflation, since unemployment is so brutal on the people who suffer it…. But the post-pandemic recovery demonstrated that high inflation also creates a lot of suffering.”
Tags: Brutal, Employment, Fed, High inflation, Perilous, Post-pandemic, Quandary, Rate, Recovery
Reuters (July 22)
“China’s hardened rhetoric against price wars among producers is raising expectations Beijing may be about to kick off industrial capacity cuts in a long-awaited, but challenging, campaign against deflation that carries risks to economic growth.” Such a campaign would “echo” similar successful “reforms a decade ago to reduce the production of steel, cement, glass and coal, which were crucial to ending a period of 54 consecutive months of falling factory gate prices.” Success may prove elusive this round. “The fight against deflation will be much more complicated and poses risks to employment and growth” while U.S. trade war ”is intensifying price wars, squeezing factory profits.”
Tags: Beijing, Cement, China, Coal, Complicated, Deflation, Economic growth, Employment, Expectations, Glass, Growth, Industrial capacity, Price wars, Producers, Rhetoric, Risks, Steel, Trade war, U.S.
Washington Post (June 26)
“This summer marks 4½ years since covid-19 altered the meaning and location of work for many Americans. Most people are back at their place of employment…. But government workers remain largely at home, so much so that 17 out of 24 federal agencies were using only about one-quarter of their headquarters’ office space last summer.”
Tags: COVID-19, Employment, Federal agencies, Government workers, Home, Location, Meaning, Office space, Summer, U.S., Work
Wall Street Journal (September 11)
“For every American employed making steel or aluminum in 2018, 36 were employed by firms that used steel or aluminum as inputs. By raising the prices of these metals, Mr. Trump’s tariffs destroyed far more manufacturing jobs than they created. Overall manufacturing employment fell in each of the four quarters of 2019…. Under Mr. Trump’s protectionist policy, total manufacturing output was 2% lower by the start of the pandemic than it was when he raised tariffs.”
Tags: 2018, Aluminum, Destroyed, Employment, Fell, Inputs, Jobs, Manufacturing, Metals, Output, Pandemic, Prices, Protectionist policy, Steel, Tariffs, Trump
The Week (March 4)
“An advertisement seeking 30 women to drive bullet trains drew more than 28,000 female applicants in Saudi Arabia last week, revealing massive demand for jobs as the kingdom loosens restrictions on women’s employment.”
Tags: Advertisement, Bullet trains, Demand, Employment, Female applicants, Jobs, Kingdom, Loosens, Restrictions, Saudi Arabia, Women
Washington Post (November 23)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been nominated for another four-year term. If again confirmed, he will face “a daunting challenge: At a time when employment remains several million jobs below pre-pandemic levels, inflation is taking off at a rate not seen for 30 years.” And the blame from all “across the political spectrum” will be pinned on him. “Not since Paul Volcker accepted President Jimmy Carter’s nomination to the position amid double-digit inflation in mid-1979 has any central banker confronted a more difficult situation.”
Tags: Blame, Carter, Challenge, Confirmed, Daunting, Employment, Fed, Inflation, Nominated, Powell, Pre-pandemic, Volcker
Mercury News (May 3)
“Of the many problems confronting Bay Area companies as they move out of pandemic lockdowns and into the workplaces of the future, one issue is proving especially thorny: Do they make their workers get COVID shots?” Legally, they can require vaccinations “as a condition of employment. But just because they can mandate injections doesn’t mean they should.”
Tags: Bay Area, Companies, COVID shots, Employment, Lockdowns, Pandemic, U.S., Vaccinations, Workers, Workplaces
Wall Street Journal (November 13)
The “booming” labor market has been the “Crown Jewel of Japan’s economy,” but it appears to be “losing its shine.” It now looks like the labor market “peaked even before the ill-considered sales-tax hike in October…. The shine is now coming off, with economic forces at home and abroad weighing on the employment gains made.”
Tags: Booming, Economy, Employment, Gains, Japan, Labor market, Peaked, Sales-tax hike
Businessweek (January 4)
“Just 19 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds had jobs in 2018, compared with almost half in 1968.” Shifts like this are “particularly troublesome for restaurants that have depended on young workers since the days of soda jerks and carhops.” Coupled with a tight employment market and increasing wages, restaurants will be “scrambling for cheap labor in 2019.”
Tags: Cheap labor, Employment, Jobs, Restaurants, Troublesome, Wages, Young workers
