Posts tagged workforce
Op-ed: Will COVID-era work-from-home flexibility disappear?
September 19, 2023 // Telford points out the irony that even Zoom – the company that made remote work possible for millions, has recently instructed its own employees who live within 50 miles of a Zoom office to start coming in at least twice a week. Mark Zuckerberg has informed Meta employees that they could face termination if they do not come in at least three days a week starting this month. The sources quoted in the Post story seem to all be pointing toward the long schlep back to the office as being inevitable. Venture capitalist Matt Cohen said “During the pandemic, a lot of salespeople were taking calls from the top of mountains on hiking trips. That’s not working anymore.” Of course, all of this exists only within the world of the office worker. The remote work debate is largely a moot point for anyone who works in a warehouse, a restaurant, or on a road crew. It’s rather difficult, after all, to give a client a work-from-home pedicure. In so far as we’re supposed to be most worried about the outcomes of those least well off, there are probably plenty of employment issues that should be far higher up on our priority list.
U.S. Independent Professionals Earned $286 Billion in 2022, a Nearly 10% Increase Compared to 2021, According to Fiverr’s Sixth Annual Freelance Economic Impact Report
May 19, 2023 // Women see a clear advantage to freelancing over traditional employment This year’s report reveals that women are pursuing freelance work for a number of reasons, including that they prefer to work from home (41% versus 31% men), want more flexibility in their schedule (39% versus 22% men), feel burned out (25% versus 17% men), want to avoid an unpleasant or toxic work environment (26% versus 15% men), and experience a lack of enjoyment in their work (22% versus 13% men). The ability to “work from anywhere” remains a priority for freelancers and more plan to work and travel next year The ability to “work from anywhere” while traveling is a major factor or somewhat of a factor in the decision for nearly three-in-four (73%) freelancers who work independently to do so. Working remotely while traveling is becoming more common, with one-third (32%) of independent professionals reporting they did at least some work from remote locations in 2022 compared to only 23% in 2021.
Millions of men are leaving the workforce. Here’s the lasting impact that has on the economy.
February 24, 2023 // But a less publicized factor is that men ages 25 to 54, have been dropping out of the workforce for decades. Their participation rate rebounded somewhat from 2017 to 2019 as unemployment fell and wages increased in a vibrant labor market. But it slid during the health crisis and has yet to fully recover despite record job growth over the past two years. A 2021 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond also cites a rise in male substance abuse and even heavy video game use. Another study several months ago by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston cites a less obvious reason: Non-college-educated men have left the labor force in greater numbers as the shortfall in their wages compared to college-educated men has increased, the study says.
Taking the ‘Free’ Out of ‘Freelance’
November 3, 2022 // ...the Biden administration’s recent broadside against independent work, in the form of a new Department of Labor proposed rule for determining when a worker is properly classified as a contractor or an “employee” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (and thus subject to minimum wage, overtime, and other labor regulations). The rule is complicated and still preliminary, but most experts agree on its objective and likely result: to make it more difficult for workers to be classified as independent and thus to force many of them to be reclassified as employees, whether they like it or not.
Commentary: The labor market’s double-edged sword
October 14, 2022 // The unemployment rate now matches the pre-pandemic, half-century low of 3.5 percent. But with 2.8 million missing workers, low unemployment is both a blessing and a curse. In this photo from August 5, 2022, a hiring sign is posted at a Target store in San Rafael, California. In this photo from August 5, 2022, a hiring sign is posted at a Target store in San Rafael, California. © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS There are millions more job openings than there are people looking for work. Employers have responded by creating more flexible workplaces, adding new benefits and expanding opportunities for people to advance upward — including opening doors for workers without college degrees. And annual wages are up nearly 7 percent (not including inflation) since January 2021. But even as workers have benefited from an opportunistic labor market, they haven’t been immune from its consequences: shortages of goods and services, crowded emergency rooms, reduced public safety, delayed deliveries and higher prices. The average worker’s $3,600 pay raise since January 2021 is equivalent to a $3,000 pay cut after factoring in inflation.
Shippers want rail service reform even if unions ratify contracts
October 6, 2022 // Both BLET and SMART-TD said last Thursday that they finally reached a tentative agreement with the railroads, and that agreement will be sent to union members in the coming weeks for approval. The Association of American Railroads estimated that a strike would have cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion a day. Shippers lobbied Congress to ensure that the tentative labor deals were reached to prevent a strike.
The Americans Who Never Went Back to Work After the Pandemic
September 6, 2022 // Padded by transfer payments, disposable income in America spiked in 2020 and 2021, reaching previously unattained heights despite the economic crisis. And after the initial steep but temporary plunge in consumer spending from the Covid shock, the stimulus-funded rebound pushed consumer demand well above its pre-Covid trend line. Americans actually had more money in their pockets during pandemic emergency years than they cared to spend—so their savings rates doubled. In 2020 and 2021, a windfall of more than $2.5 trillion in extra savings was bestowed by Washington on private households through borrowed public funds. That nest egg could supplement earnings—or substitute for them.
Another Weirdness of the COVID Labor Market
September 2, 2022 // The early retirements problem came into view as pandemic unemployment “cleared” and the labor market returned to status quo ante. The 65-plus group accounts for between 50 percent and 100 percent of the decline in the population-to-employment ratio, amounting to .7 percent of the entire workforce, perhaps a million or so workers, and about half that number were among those who chose to hang up their cleats ahead of time. These early retirements are interacting with the overall market in some unique ways. In a normal recession, businesses tend to cut labor costs through automation. As the old jobs are eliminated, workers are “reallocated,” meaning they move into new occupations. The NBER study finds that the COVID-19 recession saw almost no reallocation except in low-skill leisure and hospitality occupations. In the meantime, the number of workers in professional occupations grew as a share of the labor market. This relative expansion of professional jobs was also accompanied by “downskilling” (i.e., the relaxation of educational and experience requirements reflected in help-wanted ads) as firms responded to the tight labor market by making it easier for less credentialed workers to qualify for openings further up the value chain.
Deals with CT unions focus on keeping workers, not streamlining workforce
March 10, 2022 // Those bonuses aren’t the hazard or premium pay unions have sought for front-line workers who couldn’t telecommute during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Labor leaders and the administration still are negotiating that issue, and special pandemic pay still might be awarded in the future.