Boston Globe (January 31)
“It’s almost as if Massachusetts has too many biotechs.” With a “surplus of startups,” reflecting “investors’ desire to pour more money into the world’s leading biotech hub,” the pipeline of qualified workers simply “can’t keep up with the burgeoning demand.” The talent shortage may “inhibit growth” and could “affect the quality of work.”
Tags: Biotech hub, Burgeoning, Demand, Growth, Investors, Leading, Massachusetts, Money, Pipeline, Qualified, Shortage, Startups, Surplus, Talent, Workers
San Francisco Chronicle (January 10)
“As the omicron variant once again scrambles well-laid plans, possibly killing the return-to-office date altogether,” millions of workers hope they will “never have to work in an office full time again.” The initial response to COVID may have appeared confined to “a niche, tech-world revolution,” but this has “spread to nearly every sort of job where remote work is possible,” close to 50% of the U.S. workforce.
Tags: Covid, Full-time, Office, Omicron, Plans, Remote, Return, Revolution, Scrambles, Tech-world, U.S., Variant, Workers
Seeing Alpha (November 10)
“CPI came in red-hot again, up 0.9% month-over-month and 6.2% year-over-year, showing broad-based increases. The biggest contributors to price gains were energy, rent, food, and used cars and trucks.” As a result, “real average hourly earnings for American workers are down 1.2% year-over-year. Not exactly what we’re hoping to see.”
Washington Post (October 17)
“While Americans are leaving their jobs at staggering rates — a record 4.3 million quit in August alone — hundreds of thousands of workers with similar grievances about wages, benefits and quality of life are…choosing to dig in and fight.” Empowered by the Great Resignation, union action is up sharply in 2021. “Workers are now harder to replace, especially while many companies are scrambling to meet heightened demand for their products and manage hobbled supply chains. That has given unions new leverage, and made striking less risky.”
Tags: Benefits, Demand, Great Resignation, Grievances, Jobs, Leverage, Quality of life, Risky, Scrambling, Staggering, Striking, Supply chains, U.S., Unions, Wages, Workers
Globe and Mail (October 6)
In Canada, air and rail passengers will soon need to be vaccinated, as will workers at the nation’s largest employer, the federal Government. “Vaccinations will also be required for the hundreds of thousands of people who work in Canada’s public service, as well as those who work in federally regulated industries, such as banking.” The rules come into effect in October.
Tags: Air, Banking, Canada, Employer, Government, Passengers, Public service, Rail, Regulated industries, Vaccinations, Workers
San Jose Mercury News (October 4)
“Throughout the Bay Area, companies both large and small are struggling to refill their ranks after last year’s business shutdowns drove laid-off workers to seek pandemic unemployment assistance to find new jobs in other industries. But as bigger companies offer increasingly generous rewards, smaller companies with leaner budgets are struggling to compete in a worker-driven market.”
Tags: Bay Area, Bigger, Budgets, Companies, Generous, Laid-off, Pandemic, Refill, Rewards, Shutdowns, Smaller, Struggling, Unemployment, Workers
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (September 30)
“An array of recent Georgia job postings include a new qualification: You’ll need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The prerequisite is spreading. And more employers soon may be forced to take similar steps” when a new rule requires that “employers with more than 100 workers ensure their staffers are either fully vaccinated or tested weekly.”
Tags: COVID-19, Employers, Georgia, Job postings, Prerequisite, Qualification, Rule, Vaccinated, Workers
Philadelphia Inquirer (August 24)
“This is a new phase of vaccinations’ Get tough. Restaurants, cruise lines, colleges, and a growing number of employers—hospitals, municipal governments, Amtrak, Citigroup—are telling workers and customers to prove they’ve been vaccinated or go elsewhere. And all that was before Monday’s full authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.”
Tags: Amtrak, Authorization, Citigroup, Colleges, Cruise lines, Customers, Employers, Hospitals, Pfizer-BioNTech, Phase, Restaurants, Vaccinations, Workers
Chicago Tribune (July 26)
“As companies across the Chicago area welcome workers back to offices, they’re often labeling them as either vaccinated or unvaccinated, with different treatment for each group.” Vaccinated workers may not be “required to wear masks or social distance” while unvaccinated workers may be “told to undergo weekly on-site COVID-19 testing, wear maks and social distance.”
Tags: Chicago, Companies, COVID-19, Masks, Offices, Social distance, Testing, Unvaccinated, Vaccinated, Workers
Atlanta Journal Constitution (June 23)
“American leisure air travel is bouncing back quickly after plunging last year. But it could take months or years for business travel to return to normal—if ever—even as more companies prepare to bring workers back to offices.” For metro Atlanta’s economy and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, “that spells uncertainty.”
Tags: Air travel, Atlanta, Bouncing back, Business travel, Companies, Economy, Leisure, Normal, Offices, Plunging, U.S., Workers