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Tag: General Labor Issues

  • UAW strike sets the stage for the 4-day work week — and a win could take it mainstream

    UAW strike sets the stage for the 4-day work week — and a win could take it mainstream

    Striking United Auto Workers want better wages, improved job security, retiree pay increases, and a 32-hour work week that could turbocharge broader acceptance of shorter work weeks.

    Right now, nearly 13,000 UAW workers have walked off the job at Ford Motor Co.
    F,
    -0.08%    ,
    General Motors Co.
    GM,
    +0.86%
    and Jeep and Chrysler parent Stellantis
    STLA,
    +2.18%    ,
    still considered the influential Big Three for car makers.

    If the union gets a win from on its 32-hour work week demand, that could be a big deal for momentum behind the broader four-day work week movement, experts say.

    Four days of work is “still in the early-adoption phase,” said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, director at Four Day Week Global, where he advises companies considering how to implement a curtailed traditional work week.

    A UAW win on the 32-hour demand “would help move the four-day week from being something you do if you have a bold leader and you want to stand out in your industry, to a mainstream aspiration for every worker and business owner,” said Soojung-Kim Pang.

    “A lot more people can look at the four-day week and say if they are doing this in an auto factory, I absolutely can do it here in my small plant, or in my business,” he added.

    Even if the 32-hour work week doesn’t make it to the final deal, it’s a “game changer” that the demand is there at all, he said. The demand could plant the idea in labor talks far beyond the UAW-company standoff.

    A UAW win on the 32-hour week would cause a “massive reverberation,” said Cathy Creighton, of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

    The demand’s presence is a sign of the COVID-19 pandemic’s lasting effects, said Creighton. While five days of in-person office attendance seems like a thing of the past, “we’ve had fundamental changes in how workers and employers view work life and work-life balance.”

    Many factory workers may not be able to pull off remote work but they can press for a shortened week on the physically demanding work, she noted. Historically, the UAW was one of the first unions to deliver health benefits, vacation and pensions for its members, she noted.

    “I think the labor movement has been playing it safe for a long time, and now they are not,” Creighton said. The UAW’s 32-hour work week demand is a prime example, she said. “The five-day work week is so ingrained in our psyche that to think of something different is like an earthquake.”

    Some research indicates people are ready for a shake-up. Nearly six in 10 people who work five days say they would prefer four 10-hour days, according to an August poll in an ongoing look at worker attitudes run by academic researchers.

    “We all know that living in a plant seven days a week, 12 hours a day, isn’t a living at all. We need real work-life balance. Auto workers deserve a life,” UAW president Shawn Fain told members in a video update days before the targeted strike.

    Roughly 12,700 UAW members so far have walked off the job at a Ford Motor plant in Michigan, a GM plant in Missouri and an Ohio plant for Stellantis NV, the maker of brands like Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram Trucks.

    Of course, there’s no guarantee how far the demand gets. The companies have counter proposals for the array of union asks, as a chart shows from researchers at Evercore ISI. They don’t yet have counters on the 32-hour work week.

    Switching to a 32-hour week with a 40-hour pay rate would be a sharp labor cost on top of the wage increases the UAW is already seeking, a Stellantis spokeswoman said. It would require hiring at least 25% more workers to stick with current manufacturing schedules, she said.

    “We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership’s refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers,” the company said in a statement.

    In a statement, GM said it was “disappointed by the UAW leadership’s actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments.”

    Ford did not respond to a request for comment.

    “It’s a big game of chess that Shawn Fain is playing. We’ll see how it turns out,” Creighton said.

    “Even if they don’t get the four-day week this time, there are going to be other moves in this game in the future,” from the UAW and beyond, Soojung-Kim Pang said.

    “Even if you have to give on the four-day week now, that doesn’t mean you give on the four-day week as an ideal or a goal.”

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  • UAW strike: 12,700 Ford, GM and Stellantis auto workers walk off the job

    UAW strike: 12,700 Ford, GM and Stellantis auto workers walk off the job

    Nearly 13,000 U.S. auto workers went on strike early Friday after the Big Three and the United Auto Workers failed to reach an agreement before their national contract expired just before midnight.

    UAW President Shawn Fain called the targeted strike at a Ford Motor
    F,
    -0.16%
    plant in Michigan, a General Motors
    GM,

    plant in Missouri and a Stellantis NV
    STLA,
    -0.58%
    plant in Ohio. A strike at all three U.S. car makers is a break with tradition, as the union for many years has elected to center strike efforts at one company to protect its strike fund and picket-line firepower. Fain said the union could add more plants to strike as part of its strategy to keep the automakers guessing, and urged all 150,000 UAW members to be ready if and when they’re called to strike.

    “This is our generation’s defining moment,” Fain said Thursday night as he addressed UAW workers by webcast two hours before the deadline. “The money is there. The cause is righteous.”

    Fain said the union is committed to a contract that reflects the “incredible sacrifices and contributions” that its members have made for years. The union has said wages for auto workers who make the top rate have risen about 6% over the past four years, while the three automakers’ North American profits have increased about 65% during that time.

    The union is asking for double-digit wage increases, an end to tiered wages and benefits, the restoration of pensions and cost-of-living adjustments, retiree pay increases and more.

    A Stellantis spokesperson said the company is in contingency mode and sent the following statement: “We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership’s refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers.”

    A GM spokesperson said the company will continue to bargain with the union and that “we are disappointed by the UAW leadership’s actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments.”

    Ford did not immediately comment after the strike began, but said in a statement earlier Thursday night that it was unhappy with the union’s counterproposal: “If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labor costs.”

    GM’s Wentzville, Mo., plant, which the union said has about 3,600 UAW members, builds some of the car maker’s mid-size trucks and full-size vans, including the Chevy Colorado and the GMC Canyon. Ford’s plant in Wayne, Mich., makes Ford Broncos, and about 3,300 members who work in final assembly and paint would be striking. The Stellantis Toledo, Ohio, plant, which has about 5,800 UAW members, makes Jeep Gladiators and Wranglers.

    UAW members join workers around the nation and across industries — such as Hollywood writers and actors, hotel staff and healthcare workers — who are on strike or are preparing to walk off their jobs. Fain reiterated to UAW members Thursday night that amid rising economic inequality, he looks at the auto workers’ strike as part of a larger battle between the haves and the have-nots.

    Michelle Kaminski, associate professor in the School of HR and Labor Relations at Michigan State University, said in an interview with MarketWatch that “when the union president says this is a generational strike, I really agree with him.”

    She added: “When I think about economic conditions, they are more favorable to the union now than [at any point] in the 30 years I’ve been in this field.” She said auto workers have “given up a lot” over the past couple of decades as the companies have needed both government help and worker concessions to survive.

    Kaminski also cited the auto makers’ profit and financial position; the pandemic’s effect on the labor force and how workers’ commitments to their jobs have changed; and increasing inflation as factors in why she sees the timing as key. “The union’s window of opportunity is right now,” she said.

    But CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson said in an interview with MarketWatch that the union “needs to be careful not to overplay their hand, as the balance sheets of the Detroit three are flush with cash and they can probably wait things out longer than the workers can.”

    Automakers could weather a strike, although anything longer than about two weeks is viewed as more impactful and detrimental to the companies. GM has about $39 billion in cash and equivalents, while Ford has around $51 billion, according to a recent Moody’s Investors Service report. Stellantis’s cash and equivalent pile towers over the others, at $69 billion.

    The union’s strike fund starts at $825 million, and striking workers will receive $500 a week. Fain said earlier this week that a targeted strike would help the union have flexibility and apply pressure to the companies as negotiations continue; analysts say it means the union wouldn’t deplete its strike fund so quickly.

    See: Why United Auto Workers are fighting to end a two-tier system for wages and benefits

    The effects of the strike could be far-reaching, both for the companies and workers who may not necessarily be on the picket lines.

    Nelson said the union’s strategy of targeting specific plants could turn into a supply-chain “logistical nightmare” for the auto makers. They will have to adjust deliveries of specific parts to their assembly plants, and the average vehicle is made of more than 30,000 parts.

    “The automotive supply chain is among the most complex of any industry,” Nelson said. “Not knowing which plants the UAW will target in advance could create a massive level of uncertainty and have a crippling impact on production. If the strike goes on for too long, we think auto suppliers could have to cut production and furlough workers at their plants, creating a ripple effect across the industry.”

    Major suppliers’ balance sheets are not as strong, and GM, Ford and Stellantis together generally account for between 25% and 45% of their net sales, so the degradation of the supply chain is a major risk in the event of a prolonged strike.

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week warned about the potential widespread impact of a UAW strike. In a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to help the parties reach an agreement, the chamber said the “Detroit Three are critical to our economy.” More than 690,000 supplier jobs are tied to the auto makers, along with about 660,000 dealership jobs, the chamber said.

    “A strike will quickly impact large segments of the economy, leading to layoffs and potentially even bankruptcies of U.S. businesses,” the chamber said.

    See: Tesla may be the winner of Big Three-UAW labor talks

    Also: Would a United Auto Workers strike push up used-car prices?

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  • Here’s why Wall Street may be overreacting about Apple’s China’s challenges

    Here’s why Wall Street may be overreacting about Apple’s China’s challenges

    Apple Inc. shares sold off for the second session in a row Thursday amid swirling concerns about the company’s China business, but some analysts say those fears may be overblown.

    The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that China was banning government officials from using iPhones for work purposes, while Bloomberg News reported that the ban could ultimately extend to government-backed agencies and state companies. The question for investors is whether the issue will be limited to state-affiliated employees in…

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  • Unemployment surge to 3.8% may be a summer-jobs mirage

    Unemployment surge to 3.8% may be a summer-jobs mirage

    The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to an 18-month high of 3.8% in August. Does that mean the economy is tottering and layoffs are rising from near record lows? Ah, no.

    The big increase in the jobless rate — from 3.5% in July — stemmed almost entirely from more people in the labor force.

    People generally look for a job when they think it’s easy to find one and the pay is good. That’s a sign of a robust labor market, not a weakening one.

    An estimated 736,000 people entered the labor force last month, but only about one-third found a job.

    The other half million didn’t find a job right away, so they would be considered unemployed. The government includes anyone without a job who is actively searching for work in the unemployment rate.

    Ergo, that’s why the jobless rate jumped three-tenths to 3.8%.

    Digging a little deeper, the summer-jobs market for young people may have played an outsized role.

    About 45% of the people who reportedly entered the labor force in August were between the ages of between 16 and 24 years old, noted Omair Sharif, president of Inflation Insights.

    As it turns out, a similar 724,000 spike in the size of the labor force took place in August 2022. And once again it was driven by an increase in young jobseekers.

    What’s going on? Young people working summer jobs may have simply stayed on a bit longer than the government’s employment survey could account for.

    “This looks like an anomaly associated with the summer jobs market,” said chief economist Stephen Stanley of Santander Capital Markets.

    What happened after August 2022? The size of the labor force fell or moved sideways for the next three months. The unemployment rate also declined.

    If the same scenario plays out again this fall and the labor force shrinks, the unemployment rate could drop back down again in the next few months.

    There also could be another, less positive, explanation for the large increase in the number of people seeking work in August. Maybe they need the spending money to keep their current standard of living in light of high inflation and the depletion of their Covid-era savings.

    “This could also be a possible sign of stress, with households having to come back to the labor market to pay bills and maintain current spending habits,” said senior economist Sam Bullard of Wells Fargo.

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  • U.S. stock futures edge higher ahead of data that could show hiring slowdown

    U.S. stock futures edge higher ahead of data that could show hiring slowdown

    U.S. stock futures pointed higher on Friday, ahead of data that could show a slowing pace of hiring, which would reassure investors that the Federal Reserve won’t take interest rates much higher.

    What’s happening

    • Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
      YM00,
      +0.39%
      rose 78 points, or 0.2%, to 34869.

    • S&P 500 futures
      ES00,
      +0.34%
      gained 9 points, or 0.2%, to 4525.

    • Nasdaq 100 futures
      NQ00,
      +0.17%
      increased 12 points, or 0.1%, to 15551.

    On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    fell 168 points, or 0.48%, to 34722, the S&P 500
    SPX
    declined 7 points, or 0.16%, to 4508, while the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    gained 16 points, or 0.11%, to 14035.

    What’s driving

    Ahead of Friday’s barrage of heavy-hitting economic data, U.S. stocks saw modest pressure, as inflation data was largely benign but jobless claims dented an emerging picture of an economic slowdown. Dollar General’s
    DG,
    -12.15%
    profit warning, however, pointed to a consumer under pressure.

    Friday will see the release of nonfarm payrolls data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, with expectations that 170,000 jobs were created in August. That would be the weakest showing since Dec. 2020, a month that saw 268,000 jobs lost.

    “There have been indicators that the U.S. jobs market is finally starting to lose some of its tightness, and if the NFP print confirms this trend, it will be one less thing for the FOMC to worry about given labor market resilience has long been a source of inflationary pressure,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

    There’s also the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, as well as monthly auto sales, that will get released. Thursday’s after hours releases saw mixed responses, with Dell Technologies
    DELL,
    +0.99%
    stock rallying but Broadcom shares
    AVGO,
    +3.43%
    wilting after results.

    In China, August Caixin manufacturing PMI came in above expectations, rising to 51, a level that indicates improving conditions, as the country also lowered down-payment requirements on homes. The Hong Kong market was shut over storm-related concerns.

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  • Labor Day is just a ‘milestone’ in the marathon to get workers back to the office

    Labor Day is just a ‘milestone’ in the marathon to get workers back to the office

    The U.S. Labor Day holiday will mark another milestone in the marathon to bring workers back to the office, but it won’t be a quick fix for landlords, according to Thomas LaSalvia, head of commercial real estate economics at Moody’s Analytics.

    Employers from Facebook parent Meta
    META,
    +0.27%
    to Goldman Sachs
    GS,
    -0.26%
    recently laid out mandates for staff to return to the office more frequently, starting this fall, including the big one — the federal government.

    “A lot of companies are saying that after Labor Day, ‘We expect more out of you,” LaSalvia said, referring to days in the office. Still, office attendance, he argues, likely only stages a fuller comeback if a job or promotion is on the line.

    Amazon.com Inc.’s
    AMZN,
    +2.18%
    Chief Executive Andy Jassy has been trying to drive home the point by warning staff to return at least three days a week, or face the consequences.

    That could prove difficult, with Friday’s U.S. jobs report for August expected to show U.S. unemployment at a scant 3.5%, near the lowest levels since the late 1960s, even if hiring has been slowing. The labor market, so far, appears unfazed by the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate reaching a 22-year high.

    It has been a different story for landlords facing a roughly 19% vacancy rate nationally and piles of debt coming due, especially for owners of older Class B and C office buildings with a bleak outlook or properties in cities with wobbling business centers.

    See: San Francisco’s office market erases all gains since 2017 as prices sag nationally

    As with shopping malls, LaSalvia said it’s largely a problem of oversupply, with many office properties at risk of becoming obsolete as tenants flock to better buildings and locations staging a rebirth. The trend can be traced in leasing data since 2021, with Class A properties in central business districts (blue line) showing a big advantage over less desirable buildings in the heart of cities (orange line).

    Return to office isn’t going to save the entire office property market


    Moody’s Analytics

    “Little by little, we are finding the office isn’t dead,” LaSalvia said, but he also sees more promise in neighborhoods with a new purpose, those catering to hybrid work and communities that bring people together.

    Another way to look at the trend is through rents. Manhattan’s Penn Station submarket, with its estimated $13 billion overhaul and neighboring Hudson Yards development, has seen asking rents jump 32% to $74.87 a square foot in the second quarter since the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Moody’s Analytics. That compares with a 2% bump in asking rents in downtown New York City to $61.39 a square foot for the same period.

    The push for a return to the office also doesn’t mean a repeat of prepandemic ways. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that part-time remote work in the U.S. has stabilized around 20%-25%, in a late August report, but that’s still up from 2.6% before the 2020 lockdowns.

    Furthermore, the persistence of remote work will likely add another 171 million square feet of vacant U.S. office space through 2029, a period that also will see tenants’ long-term leases expire and many companies opting for less space. The additional vacancies would roughly translate to 57% of Los Angeles roughly 300 million square feet of office space sitting empty.

    “The fundamental reason why we had offices in the first place have not completely disintegrated,” LaSalvia said. “But for some of those Class B and C offices, the writing was on the wall before the pandemic.”

    U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday, but headed for losses in a tough August for stocks, with the S&P 500 index
    SPX
    off about 1.5% for the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA
    2.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite
    COMP
    down 2% in August, according to FactSet.

    Related: Some employers mandate etiquette classes as returning office workers walk barefoot, burp loudly and microwave fish

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  • UPS, Teamsters Reach Agreement on New Contract

    UPS, Teamsters Reach Agreement on New Contract

    UPS, Teamsters Reach Agreement on New Contract

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  • Are the robots coming for us? Ask AI.

    Are the robots coming for us? Ask AI.

    As we enter artificial intelligence’s brave new world, humans have naturally come to fear what the future holds.  Do computers like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey pose an existential threat? Or in an incident not from Hollywood fiction, an Air Force official’s recent remarks implying that a drone had autonomously changed course and killed its operator, only to be later declared a hypothetical, certainly raised alarm.

    Closer to home for most of us, the release of large language models like ChatGPT have renewed worries about automation, reminiscent of earlier fears about mechanization. AI has advanced far beyond rote data-storage tasks and can even pass the bar exam, or write news, or research papers, leading to fears of massive white-collar unemployment.

    But, as new research looking at data of job churn over the past two decades finds, the impact of automation on workers and industries is, in fact, pretty hard to predict given the complexity of the labor market, requiring carefully crafted policies that take these nuances into account.

    First, changes in exposure to automation are not intuitive: they do not easily mesh with “blue-collar” and “white-collar” jobs, as typically defined. Instead, automation is more closely linked to the tasks and characteristics of each job, such as repetitiveness and face-to-face interactions. That translates to the three most automation-exposed jobs: office and administrative support, production, and business and financial operations occupations.

    Meanwhile, the three least automation-exposed jobs are in personal care; installation, maintenance and repair occupations; and teaching. In other words, even with the Internet of Things controlling your HVAC system, it cannot fix itself when it needs new refrigerant, but its smart-panel interface can help the technician diagnose the problem remotely quickly and know what equipment to bring for a repair. But back-end accountants in that company may not fare as well in the AI jobs sweepstakes.

    While automation can displace workers, history suggests that new technology also tends to boost productivity and create new jobs. Consider the automobile: while horses and buggies are outdated, we still need humans to drive (at least until autonomous vehicles come to full fruition), and the assembly line helped automate manufacturing with entire new classes of jobs created for every part of a car and all its electronic systems, with almost 1 million U.S. workers in auto manufacturing today.

    But automation has continued in the auto industry over the decades, with robots helping to make hard and heavy physical labor tasks easier, without fully displacing workers.  So there is a push-pull with automation, and the relative sizes of these countervailing effects remains an area of active scholarly debate.

    “ It is rare for an entire job class to disappear overnight; changes mainly take place over generations ”

    Second, it is rare for an entire job class to disappear overnight; changes mainly take place over generations. The research shows that newer generations of workers, perhaps deterred by the job insecurity observed in earlier generations and lured by high wages in the technology sector, are less inclined to enter automation-prone jobs than those before them. However, after embarking down those career paths, workers tend to stay in their fields, even if the prospects of automation loom large, likely because reskilling is time-consuming and expensive. It is relatively easy for recent high school graduates to opt for tech-centric college degrees like computer science, but learning new skills like coding is more difficult for mid-career professionals in automation-susceptible fields like manufacturing.

    Adjustments to automation can be slow on the business side as well. Incorporating automated technology takes time because modern production tasks tend to be so intertwined that automating one part of a business can affect all other operations. For example, when AT&T, once the country’s largest firm, began replacing telephone operators with mechanical switchboards, they found that operators had become central to the complex production system that grew around them, which is why there are fewer operators today, but some still exist.

    Third, the research found that the share of workers in highly automation-exposed occupations tends to be clustered, ranging from about 25% to 36% across commuting zones. The least-exposed areas in the U.S. are across the Mountain West, thanks to the area’s high shares of workers in management, retail sales and construction (which hasn’t had much automation or productivity improvement in decades but additive manufacturing may be a game-changer), as well as those on the East and West coasts, with their more innovative finance and tech industries.

    On the other hand, those most exposed to automation tend to be located in the Great Plains and Rust Belt, namely due to agriculture. In spite of the fact that U.S. agriculture has been exposed to automation for over a century (more efficient machines and advances in biotechnology), it has become even more technology-driven recently, making ag workers more likely to be impacted by automation.

    Read: How artificial intelligence can make hiring bias worse

    So will the robots take over your job soon?  More likely, they will make our jobs easier and more efficient. Trying to slow the adoption of technology is both futile and counterproductive: taxing or overregulating tech adoption may backfire, especially given global competitiveness and other countries who may not pause. While the advent of a new era of automation is likely to be both gradually incorporated and result in complements to human labor rather than full replacement, thoughtful policies can help disrupted workers transition to new and better opportunities, ensuring we can harness the transformative power of automation and foster a future of work that benefits all.

    Eric Carlson is associate economist at the Economic Innovation Group; DJ Nordquist is EIG’s executive vice president.

    More: AI is ready to take on menial tasks in the workplace, but don’t sweat robot replacement (just yet)

    Also read: ‘Make friends with this technology’: Yes, AI is coming for your job. Here’s how to prepare.

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  • ‘The war on remote work is not over.’ But one group in particular is heading back to the office.

    ‘The war on remote work is not over.’ But one group in particular is heading back to the office.

    As the fight between bosses and workers over returning to the office keeps entering new rounds, new data show how much in-office attendance ramped up last year — especially for white-collar workers with high levels of education.

    But even still, the return to the office has been two different stories for men and women. From 2021 to 2022, men spent more time at the workplace while women spent the same amount of time working from home year-over-year.

    Last year, 34% of workers said they worked from home at least part of the time, according to the annual Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of how Americans spend their time.

    That was down from the 38% of employed people who said the same in 2021 — and a deeper look into Thursday’s data reveals an even more pronounced, but uneven, reduction in the number of people who are working remotely.

    More than one quarter of men in 2022 said they spend at least some of their working time at home, while 41% of women said they had work-from-home in their job schedule. One year earlier, it was a different story for men, but not for women. Over one-third of men, 35%, said working from home was part of their routine while 42% of women said the same.

    It may be a reminder of the juggle that women face between their personal and professional lives. For example, in homes with children under age 6, women spent just over an hour each day caring for their children while men in those households spent half that amount. That breakdown was unchanged between 2022 and 2021, the data showed.

    Meanwhile, the return-to-office trend accelerated for more educated workers from 2021 to 2022. In 2021, 60% of people with at least a bachelor’s degree said they did some of their work from home. In 2022, the share fell to 54% doing some work from home.

    When the pandemic shut down offices and other workplaces, people with higher levels of education often had greater chances of being able to stay home while they worked.

    That dynamic is still at play now, although the differences between groups are becoming less stark. Last year and in 2021, the share of people with no college degree who said they worked from home at least some of the time stayed below 20%.

    It’s unclear what was driving highly-educated workers to spend more time in the office between 2021 and 2022, said Stephan Meier, a Columbia Business School professor who chairs the school’s management division. Some of it could be attributed to return-to-office policies, but it might also be due to growing comfort with vaccination and public-health measures as the pandemic continued, he said.

    “What I would care about is who goes to the office and who doesn’t want to go to the office,” he said.

    The overall change in numbers is not “a major shift,” said Meier, who teaches students and executives about the future of work. “What those numbers show to me is that the war on remote work is not over.”

    The year-over-year decline fits with the trends that Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics at Stanford University, is seeing in his own research analyzing where people say they are working these days. Even if there’s less remote work happening, Bloom said, his research shows the “rate of decline is itself declining.”

    Bloom thinks the rate of remote work may bottom out next year. “I predict longer-run, from 2025 onwards, this will start to rise again as remote-work technology — hardware, software, [virtual reality, augmented reality], etc. — gets better and continues the long-run rise of [working from home].”

    Between May and December 2020, Bureau of Labor Statistics research showed, 42% of employed people said they spent least some of their time working from home as COVID-19 upended daily life.

    As a whole, the BLS survey on how Americans use their time paints a picture of a slow return to the office — but not necessarily a return to the way things were before COVID-19.

    Before the pandemic, 24% of workers said they spent some of their time working from home, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    This year, office foot traffic has edged higher, but the rise is incremental and uneven. Earlier in June, average weekly office occupancy surpassed 50% for the first time in three months, according to an ongoing gauge from Kastle Systems, a security-technology provider.

    One week later, the company’s barometer of average occupancy across 10 major cities dropped back below 50%. In the data from early June, Tuesdays tended to be the busiest days for offices, and Fridays were the slowest.

    Meier said he wouldn’t be surprised if next year’s time-use survey reveals even less time spent working from home. But this is a transitional moment in which businesses are figuring out the particular version of hybrid work duties and office setups that work for them, he said.

    “Personally, I do think there is something magical about being in person,” Meier said. “Does it need to be five days a week? Absolutely not.”

    See also: Salesforce is trying a ‘cute gimmick’ to get workers back to the office, but it may fall flat

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  • Jobs report shows a big 339,000 gain in May. The U.S. economy is still strong.

    Jobs report shows a big 339,000 gain in May. The U.S. economy is still strong.

    The numbers: The U.S. added a muscular 339,000 new jobs in May, underscoring the resilience of the economy in the face of rising borrowing costs.

    Employment gains in April and March were also considerably higher than previously reported, the government reported Friday, in another sign the labor market remains unusually strong.


    Uncredited

    Wall Street had forecast a 190,000 increase in new jobs, based on the government’s survey of business establishments.

    The robust demand for labor suggests a widely predicted recession is still far away, but it complicates the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bring high inflation to heel.

    The economy has been adding so many jobs it’s created a shortage of workers and is pushing wages higher. Rising pay has added to price pressures and left inflation stuck in the 4% to 5% range — three times higher vs. pre-pandemic levels.

    The central bank had been expected to skip an interest-rate hike at its June 13-14 meeting to give it more time to assess the effect of prior increases on the economy. Senior officials are worried they will cause a recession if they act too aggressively.

    The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.7% from 3.4%, the government said Friday. That’s the highest level since last October.

    The jobless rate rose mostly because of a sharp increase in the number of people who said they were unemployed and partly because more people entered the labor force.

    Some economists pointed to the rise in unemployment, drawn from a separate household survey, as a potential warning sign.

    “Usually, economists put more stock in the establishment survey, because it is based on a larger sample and is less volatile,” Julia Pollack chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said. “But the household survey has been more sensitive to the start of economic downturns.”

    Economists also saw the moderation in wage growth as a sign the labor market might not be as strong as it looks. Hourly wages rose 0.3% in May to $33.11.

    The increase in wages over the past year slowed to 4.3% from 4.4% and a peak of 5.9% last year.

    Wages were rising less than 3% a year before the pandemic, however.

    Key details: The increase in hiring was broad-based. Professional businesses (64,000) led the way. Hiring was also strong in government (52,000), health care (52,000) and bars and restaurants (33,000).

    Employment even rose by 25,000 in construction, a sector that has struggled to find workers.

    The only notable decline in employment was in information services, a category that includes the media and some high tech.

    Also read: Global tech layoffs have surpassed 201,000 since the start of 2023

    The share of people working or looking for work was flat at a post-pandemic high of 62.6%.

    Rising labor-force participation can also help to reduce inflation. When more people look for work, companies don’t have to raise wages as much to obtain labor.

    Employment gains in April and March were a combined 93,000 higher than previously reported.

    The economy averaged a robust 283,000 new jobs in the past three months, but that’s down from 344,000 in the same period in 2022. 

    Big picture: The economy has softened a bit and a torrid labor market has partly cooled off since last year. But both might be too strong to ease the upward pressure on inflation.

    Workers, for their part, are caught in a vice. Rising wages help them to cope with high inflation, but it also fans the fires of inflation.

    The Fed is caught in a vice, too. Even if the central bank skips a rate hike in June, many economists say the Fed may have to raise rates again this year to truly tame inflation.

    The higher rates go, though, the greater the odds of a recession. The Fed has jacked up a key short-term rate to a top end of 5.25% from near zero just 15 months ago, marking the highest level in 16 years.

    Looking ahead: “The continued strength in employment pushes back the start of a prospective recession but does not eliminate that likelihood,” said chief economist Kathy Bostjancic of Nationwide. “And if the economy remains too hot to meaningfully slow inflation, the Fed will simply raise rates higher, still a path towards a downturn.”

    Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +2.12%
    and S&P 500
    SPX,
    +1.45%
    were set to open higher before the jobs report. The yield on the 10-year Treasury BX:TMUBMUSD10Y rose slightly to 3.63%.

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  • ADP says U.S. added 296,000 private jobs in April, a nine-month high

    ADP says U.S. added 296,000 private jobs in April, a nine-month high

    The numbers: Private-sector employment jumped by 296,000 in April and hit a nine-month high, payroll processor ADP said Wednesday, in a sign the U.S. labor market is still going strong.

    The increase in hiring was much larger than expected. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a gain of 133,000 private sector jobs.

    The…

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  • When workers are an employer’s No. 1 priority, stockholders benefit too

    When workers are an employer’s No. 1 priority, stockholders benefit too

    The deep uncertainty that the COVID pandemic created in the workforce hasn’t waned. U.S. workers are struggling with inflation, burnout, and fresh waves of layoffs. This comes as people expect more from employers — more leadership, more urgency, more action, and better jobs.

    The public’s perspective is clear and consistent: companies need to prioritize their employees. In today’s unstable economic climate, worker wages and treatment are more important to Americans than ever.

    When it comes to creating U.S. jobs with strong wages, good benefits, safe environments and opportunities for upward mobility, a handful of companies lead the pack.

    Bank of America
    BAC,
    NVIDIA
    NVDA
    and Microsoft
    MSFT
    are the top-three companies in JUST Capital’s 2023 rankings of America’s most JUST companies. They all share one crucial thing in common — a clear commitment to addressing worker issues and investing in employees.

    Since 2018, JUST Capital’s rankings have provided a snapshot of how U.S. companies are measuring up to the public’s priorities, as determined through an annual survey to identify issues that define principled business behavior. Companies that are just provide a clear benefit for investors. For example, If an investor purchased an index tracking the JUST 100 companies at its March 2019 inception, the index would have generated 13.3% in excess return versus the Russell 1000 as of December 2022.

    Worker issues have risen to the forefront of Americans’ vision for what is a just business. Paying a fair and living wage, supporting workforce advancement, protecting worker health and safety, and providing benefits and work-life balance are top priorities for the public. Notably, regardless of demographic differences including political affiliation, Americans agree that companies should do more to address worker needs. 

    What makes a great company?

    Bank of America demonstrates strong leadership on the top priority — paying a fair, living wage – by raising its minimum wage to $22 per hour, a key step in its pledge to offer a $25 starting wage by 2025. In addition, employees receive an extensive benefit package, including 16 weeks of paid parental leave for primary- and secondary caregivers, and career development opportunities through tuition assistance and professional training.

    NVIDIA works to ensure equal pay for equal work, performing detailed pay equity analyses, and is one of only a few companies to disclose pay-analysis results separated by racial and ethnic categories. Like Bank of America, NVIDIA is one of 10% of Russell 1000
    RUI
    companies that offer at least 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both caregivers, providing 22 weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers.

    Microsoft offers at least 12 weeks of parental leave for both caregivers, in addition many other generous paid-time-off benefits, including 15 days of paid vacation and an additional 10 days of paid sick leave for every worker — a policy still rare for many companies. Additionally, Microsoft discloses the results of its pay-equity analyses, going above and beyond other companies by disaggregating pay ratios for specific racial and ethnic categories — including Black, Asian and Latinx — all of whom are paid on par with their white counterparts.

    “ When companies ensure the economic security, advancement, equity and safety of their workforces, employees are more engaged and productive. ”

    These efforts provide tangible benefits to employees, but prioritizing workers offers much more to companies than just an assurance of moral good. When companies ensure the economic security, advancement, equity, and safety of their workforces employees are more engaged and productive, strengthening their companies’ business in turn.

    Americans expect the private sector to better support employees. Effective business leadership today puts workers at the center of an organization’s strategy. When businesses take this approach, we get much closer to an economy that works for all Americans.

    Alison Omens is chief strategy officer at JUST Capital. 

    Also read: Tech companies are hiring — a lot — despite recent wave of layoffs

    More: Unemployment rate is now 3.5%. Is this the last chance for job switchers to jump ship?

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  • Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.

    The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.

    While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.

    The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.

    The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.

    There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.

    Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.

    The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.

    What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.

    When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.

    Emerging evidence of slack in a muscular U.S. labor market could encourage the Fed to take a breather after a rapid series of interest-rate increases.

    Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.

    “ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”

    Stock-index futures rallied after the report, though the stock market itself is officially closed due to the Good Friday holiday.

    See: Why Good Friday complicates how stock-market traders will digest March jobs report

    Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.

    Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.

    Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.

    Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.

    The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.

    Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.

    Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.

    On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.

    Manufacturers have cut production and are arguably already in recession and the much larger service side of the economy is under more stress lately.

    If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.

    The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.

    Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.

    Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets

    “Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.

    See: Traders see little chance interest rates will end up where Fed thinks in 2023

    Market reaction:  Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.19%
    rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.24%
    gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.404%
    jumped to 3.36%.

    MarketWatch personal finance: U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March. Is this your last chance to jump ship?

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  • Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.

    The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.

    While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.

    The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.

    The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.

    There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.

    Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.

    The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.

    What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.

    When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.

    Emerging evidence of slack in a muscular U.S. labor market could encourage the Fed to take a breather after a rapid series of interest-rate increases.

    Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.

    “ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”

    Stock-index futures rallied after the report, though the stock market itself is officially closed due to the Good Friday holiday.

    See: Why Good Friday complicates how stock-market traders will digest March jobs report

    Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.

    Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.

    Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.

    Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.

    The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.

    Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.

    Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.

    On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.

    Manufacturers have cut production and are arguably already in recession and the much larger service side of the economy is under more stress lately.

    If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.

    The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.

    Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.

    Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets

    “Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.

    See: Traders see little chance interest rates will end up where Fed thinks in 2023

    Market reaction:  Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.19%
    rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.24%
    gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.404%
    jumped to 3.36%.

    MarketWatch personal finance: U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March. Is this your last chance to jump ship?

    Source link

  • Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    Jobs report shows 236,000 gain in March — lifting 2023 total above 1 million — but U.S. labor market shows hints of cooling

    The numbers: The U.S. added a robust 236,000 new jobs in March, defying the Federal Reserve’s hopes for a big slowdown in hiring as the central bank struggles to tame inflation. The consensus economist forecast called for a nonfarm-payrolls expansion of 238,000.

    The solid increase in employment last month followed a revised 326,000 gain in February and a gain of 472,000 in January.

    While the increase in hiring was the smallest monthly rise in more than two years, the number of jobs created last month was much greater than is typical.

    The U.S. economy has shown recent signs of stress.

    The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6% as more people searched for and found work. That’s another sign of labor-market vigor.

    There was some good news in the report for the Fed, though.

    Wage growth continued to moderate closer to level the Fed would prefer. Hourly wages increased a mild 0.3% last month, the government said Friday.

    The increase in pay over the past year also slowed again to a nearly two-year low of 4.2% from 4.6% in February.

    What’s more, the share of people working or looking for work rose a tick to 62.6%. That’s the highest labor-force participation rate since February 2020, the last month before the pandemic’s onset.

    When more people look for work, companies don’t have to compete as hard for workers via higher pay.

    Emerging evidence of slack in a muscular U.S. labor market could encourage the Fed to take a breather after a rapid series of interest-rate increases.

    Still, the U.S. has added a whopping 1 million–plus new jobs in the first three months of the year. The labor market is not cooling off as much as the Fed would like.

    “ The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s. ”

    Stock-index futures rallied after the report, though the stock market itself is officially closed due to the Good Friday holiday.

    See: Why Good Friday complicates how stock-market traders will digest March jobs report

    Key details: About one-third of the new jobs created last month — 72,000 — were at service-sector companies such as bars and restaurants whose employment still has not returned to prepandemic levels.

    Americans are going out to eat a lot and spending relatively more on services than on goods.

    Government employment increased by 47,000. Hiring also rose at professional businesses and in healthcare. Retailers cut 15,000 jobs.

    Employment fell slightly in manufacturing and construction, or goods-producing industries, which are under more pressure from rising interest rates.

    The strong labor market has benefited all groups, but especially Black Americans. The Black unemployment rate fell to 5% last month, the lowest level since records began being kept in the early 1970s.

    Big picture: The ongoing tightness in the labor market could inflame inflation and even push the Fed to raise interest rates more than currently forecast to try to get prices under control.

    Higher borrowing costs reduce inflation by slowing the economy, but most Fed rate-hike cycles since World War II have been followed by recession.

    On the flip side, the U.S. economy is starting to show more signs of deterioration due to the series of rapid Fed interest-rate increases since last year.

    Manufacturers have cut production and are arguably already in recession and the much larger service side of the economy is under more stress lately.

    If these trends continue the economy — and inflation — are bound to slow.

    The U.S. is still growing for now, however, and the labor market remains an oasis of strength.

    Low unemployment and rising wages have allowed Americans to keep spending. And so far they’ve keep the economy out of a widely predicted recession.

    Looking ahead: “The U.S. labor market is losing some momentum, but remains far too vibrant for the Fed to pause [its rate-hike campaign] in May,” said senior economist Sal Guatieri at BMO Capital Markets

    “Although job growth is gradually slowing, it remains too strong for the Federal Reserve,” said Sal Guatieri of PNC Financial Services.

    See: Traders see little chance interest rates will end up where Fed thinks in 2023

    Market reaction:  Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    +0.19%
    rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723. S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.24%
    gained 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75. Stock trading resumes again on Monday.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury
    TMUBMUSD10Y,
    3.404%
    jumped to 3.36%.

    MarketWatch personal finance: U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in March. Is this your last chance to jump ship?

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  • U.S. economy forecast to create 238,000 jobs in March. The Fed wouldn’t be happy.

    U.S. economy forecast to create 238,000 jobs in March. The Fed wouldn’t be happy.

    Normally a big increase in new U.S. jobs is cause for celebration. Not right now.

    The Federal Reserve sees a tight labor market as a big obstacle in getting high inflation under control and wants hiring to slow as soon as possible, but it might not get its wish in March.

    …

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  • Jobless claims touch 228,000 and look worse after change in seasonal adjustments

    Jobless claims touch 228,000 and look worse after change in seasonal adjustments

    The numbers: The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits has topped 200,000 for nine weeks in a row and looks worse than previously reported, based on a change in how the government adjusts for seasonal swings in employment.

    The newly revised data suggest the labor market has softened more than it had appeared.

    In the seven days…

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  • Zoom to Lay Off 15% of Staff, CEO Slashes Salary

    Zoom to Lay Off 15% of Staff, CEO Slashes Salary

    Zoom to Lay Off 15% of Staff, CEO Slashes Salary

    Source link

  • U.S. adds robust 223,000 jobs in December, but wage growth slows in sign of ebbing inflation pressures

    U.S. adds robust 223,000 jobs in December, but wage growth slows in sign of ebbing inflation pressures

    The numbers: The U.S. generated 223,000 new jobs in December to mark the smallest increase in two years, but the labor market still showed surprising vigor even as the economy faced rising headwinds.

    The unemployment rate, meanwhile, slipped to 3.5% from 3.6%, the government said Friday.

    The jobless rate has touched 3.5% several times since 2019. That matches the lowest rate since 1969.

    One good sign for Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. Hourly pay rose a modest 0.3% last month, suggesting wages are coming off a boil.

    The increase in wages over the past year also slowed to 4.6% from 4.8%, marking the smallest gain since the summer of 2021.

    U.S. stocks
    DJIA,
    -1.02%
     
    SPX,
    -1.16%
    rose in premarket trades and bond yields edged higher after the report.

    Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a smaller increase in new jobs of 200,000.

    The resilient labor market is a double-edged sword for the Federal Reserve.

    For one thing, a scarcity of workers has driven up wages and threatens to prolong a bout of high inflation. The Fed wants the labor market to cool off further to ease the upward pressure on prices.

    Yet the strong labor market also offers the best hope for the Fed to avert a recession as it jacks up interest rates to the highest level in years. Higher rates reduce inflation by slowing the economy.

    James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, said on Thursday the odds of so-called soft landing have gone up in part because of the sturdy labor market. He was referring to a Goldilocks scenario in which the central bank vanquishes inflation without causing a recession.

    Senior Fed officials still want to see the jobs market slacken some more, however. They are likely to keep raising rates — and keep them high — until demand for labor, goods and services ease up.

    Big picture: The U.S. economy has shown more fragility, especially in segments like housing and manufacturing that are sensitive to high interest rates. Many economists predict a recession is likely this year due to the higher cost of borrowing.

    The Fed, for its part, is trying to thread the needle: Bring down high inflation and keep the economy out of recession.

    Whatever the outcome, one thing is virtually certain: The unemployment rate is expected to rise as U.S. growth wanes. Whether it’s enough to help the Fed achieve is far from clear. 

    Key details: Health care providers, hotels and restaurants accounted for most of the increase in employment last month. They added a combined 150,000-plus jobs.

    Hiring was weaker in most other sectors, suggesting that the labor market is likely to soften further.

    High-tech has been hit particularly hard and is experiencing a wave of layoffs.

    Employment in so-called professional businesses, which includes some tech, fell by 6,000, largely reflecting fewer temps being hired. It was the only major category to post a decline.

    The share of working-age people in the labor force — known as the participation rate — rose a tick to 62.3%.. A lack of people looking for work is a chief source of the labor shortage.

    Hiring in November and October was little changed after government revisions. The economy added 256,000 jobs in November and 263,000 in October.

     Market reaction:  The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX were set to open higher in Friday trades.

    Investors worry a strong labor market will push the Fed to take sterner measures to slow the economy. The slowdown in hiring and wage growth is likely to be seen in a positive light.

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  • U.S job openings stay high at 10.5 million and show labor market still very strong

    U.S job openings stay high at 10.5 million and show labor market still very strong

    The numbers: Job openings in the U.S. fell slightly to 10.46 million in November, but workers were still quitting in droves in a sign the labor market remains quite strong — too strong for the Federal Reserve.

    Job listings declined from 10.51 million in October, the Labor Department said Wednesday. But openings in October were also revised higher.

    The number of job openings is seen as a cue on the health of the labor market and broader U.S. economy. Job postings have slowly receded since hitting an all-time high of 11.9 million last spring.

    The jobs market is still too hot for the Fed, however. The Fed is worried high inflation will persist unless hiring slows and a rapid increase in wages tapers off.

    There were 1.7 job openings for each unemployed worker in November, well above pre-pandemic levels of 1.2. The Fed is watching that ratio closely and wants to see if fall back to pre-pandemic norms.

    Key details: The number of people hired in November dipped to 6.06 million, marking the smallest increase since February 2021.

    Rising interest rates, a slowing economy and worries about recession have spurred businesses to fill fewer open jobs.

    Yet the number of job quitters edged up to 4.17 million. Quits have topped 4 million for a record 18 months in a row. People quit more often when they think it’s easy to get a better job.

    The so-called quits rate among private-sector workers rose to 3% from 2.9%. It peaked at 3.4% near the end of 2021.

    Big picture: The Fed is raising interest rates to slow the economy and reduce the demand for labor as part of a broader strategy to rein in the worst inflation in 40 years.

    Fed officials say the appetite for labor is still too strong and needs to slacken. The ratio of job openings to unemployed workers has slipped from a record 2.0 last spring, but that’s still too high for the central bank.

    Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    -0.03%
    and S&P 500
    SPX,
    +0.13%
    fell after the job-openings report.

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