Ever since the pandemic, American companies big and small have been scrambling to find enough workers to stay fully staffed. They've been forced to offer big salaries and generous perks, while employees were free to shop around for better offers or simply walk off the job to join the Great Resignation. But now, layoffs are up and job openings are down. The economy is slowing, and the Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates at the fastest pace in decades. By any objective measure, the balance of power in the job market should be tipping back to employers. READ MORE
In-person work still popular, iHire survey finds
As the work-arrangement tug-of-war between employers and workers continues, much of the coverage has focused on employees’ desire for remote- and hybrid-work options. Perhaps surprisingly, however, a recent survey from iHire found that while close, workers’ preference for in-person work (36.3%) edged out remote (32.2%) and hybrid (31.5%) options. READ MORE
US weekly jobless claims fall; labor market defying recession fears
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, with applications in Massachusetts decreasing sharply, suggesting the labor market remains tight.
The steep decline in weekly jobless claims reported by the Labor Department on Thursday reversed the surge in the prior week, which had boosted them to the highest level since Oct. 30, 2021. That increase was largely blamed on an unusual jump in applications for unemployment insurance in Massachusetts. READ MORE
What price would you pay to work from home?
Would you get a mullet to work from home? I wouldn’t. But I would doth speak in Shakespearean prose to work from mine estate with mine felines (as long as I didn’t have to worry about proper usage).
As an outlet covering human resources and workforce issues, our team’s inboxes fill with news about the return to work, employees’ feelings about it and how those decisions affect engagement and productivity. But one email a few weeks ago was a party in the front and business in the back — and worth sharing. READ MORE
AI could replace 80% of jobs 'in next few years'
Artificial intelligence could replace 80 percent of human jobs in the coming years -- but that's a good thing, says US-Brazilian researcher Ben Goertzel, a leading AI guru.
Mathematician, cognitive scientist and famed robot-creator Goertzel, 56, is founder and chief executive of SingularityNET, a research group he launched to create "Artificial General Intelligence," or AGI -- artificial intelligence with human cognitive abilities. READ MORE
Where the jobs are: These are the industries that are hiring – and firing
All signs were pointing to a cooling labor market. Instead, the latest jobs report showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in April after 253,000 jobs were added last month.
But hiring isn’t strong across the board, and is concentrated in a handful of industries. READ MORE
Is Your Company as Strategically Aligned as You Think It Is?
Picture this: You’re the CEO of a midsize company, and you just returned from an expensive, multi-day strategy retreat with your entire management team. You spent hours discussing the ins and outs of your strategy, and it left you and your employees feeling more aligned than ever. But are you actually on the same page?
Our new study suggests that you might not be — and that this sort of strategic misalignment is both more common and more harmful than you might think. READ MORE
Tech Layoffs Dropped Sharply In April, But That Doesn’t Mean Layoffs Are Over
After three months of sweeping layoffs, is the tech industry’s blaze of job cuts finally cooling?
Between January and March, largely U.S.-based tech companies managed to lay off more people than they did in the entirety of last year. There was a reprieve in April, as only around 6,330 employees were cut from the tech sector. READ MORE
Inside Amazon's little-known Slack channel for performance improvement: Leaked messages reveal anguish, despair, but also community
It wasn't the conversation the Amazon Web Services employee was expecting to have with her new manager.
The employee, a tech-industry veteran, had been at the cloud company for more than a year. She'd received consistently positive feedback from her prior boss, who'd told her she was on track for a promotion. READ MORE
Airbnb let its workers live and work anywhere. Spoiler: They're loving it
When Carrie Kissell learned that her employer, Airbnb, was letting people live and work anywhere, she was on a sailboat off the coast of Key Biscayne, enjoying some time off with her partner.
The thought came to her: Why not just stay on the boat?
"It was this opportunity I couldn't not take," says Kissell, an internal events planner formerly based in San Francisco. READ MORE
What are the biggest names in tech doing on AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has advanced at a rapid pace recently and several of the biggest names in the tech sector have launched new tools to help customers and client leverage the technology in a variety of ways.
AI-powered chatbots, cloud services and tools for web developers are among the tools that are quickly becoming staple offerings of tech companies. Major U.S. tech firms – including Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft – have each rolled out AI initiatives or have some in the works, although Apple has been notably quiet in announcing any big AI moves to date. READ MORE
Why students should consider trade jobs over college degree
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat seeking re-election in a state that has trended red in recent elections, urged young residents in the Buckeye State to take up trade jobs and insisted they "don't need a college degree" after previously signaling support for loan debt forgiveness.
"I make a plea to every young Ohioan I meet — consider a career in the building trades. Apprenticeship programs, good pay & benefits, and you don’t need a college degree," Brown wrote in a Saturday tweet, which was accompanied by a video message from the senator. READ MORE
Twitter’s former CEO has a new app that looks a lot like Twitter
The buzzy new social media app of the moment looks so much like Twitter it’s almost hard to distinguish the two. The profiles, timelines and colors are nearly identical. Even the creator is the same.
But under the hood, Bluesky, developed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, is vastly different.
The app, which launched in a closed beta on iOS in February and on Android this month, runs on a decentralized network which provides users with more control over how the service is run, data is stored, and content is moderated. READ MORE
When your boss is an algorithm
Two brothers who drive for Uber recently conducted an experiment. They opened their Uber apps while sitting in the same room, and tested which brother could earn more money to do the same work.
In a video published on The Rideshare Guy YouTube channel, the brothers recorded themselves looking for rides on the app. They found that Uber showed them nearly identical jobs, but offered to pay one of them a little better. The siblings could only guess why. Had Uber's algorithm somehow calculated their worth differently? READ MORE
The new 9-to-5 starts at 6 p.m. for many Gen Zers and millennials
There are two types of people in the world: Those who spring up when their morning alarm goes off ready to pounce on the day ahead, and those who begrudgingly get out of bed and only start to feel alive as the sun sets. READ MORE
Gen Z is at the top of bosses’ firing list
Just like parents, bosses have their (not so) secret favorites. And when it comes to being managers’ pet, the most junior employees in the office are not often selected. Nearly three-fourths of managers find Gen Z to be the most difficult to work with, according to a Resume Builder survey of 1,300-plus managers and business leaders. READ MORE
Banks ‘aren’t out of the woods’ after the collapse of SVB and Signature
A month ago, code blue sirens went off at banks across the globe after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. As banks work to put that painful episode in the rear view mirror, it’s unclear if the situation has stabilized or if it’s the calm before another storm.
More details will come on Friday, when the Federal Reserve is set to release the findings of its investigation into what led to SVB’s collapse. READ MORE
The $11.8 billion mistake that led to Bed, Bath & Beyond’s demise
Bed, Bath & Beyond made plenty of mistakes that led to this week’s bankruptcy filing. Among the most consequential was the $11.8 billion it has spent since 2004 to buy back its own shares.
The company’s repurchase program wasn’t unique. But for a cash-starved business that announced it would likely be forced to close all of its stores if it couldn’t find an 11th-hour savior to buy it, the money could have been better spent. Instead, it fueled a desperate and ultimately failed effort to support its stock price. READ MORE
How to rein in the AI threat? Let the lawyers loose
Fifty-five percent of Americans are worried by the threat of AI to the future of humanity, according to a recent Monmouth University poll. More than 1,000 AI experts and funders, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed a letter calling for a six-month pause in training new AI models. In turn, Time published an article calling for a permanent global ban.
However, the problem with these proposals is that they require coordination of numerous stakeholders from a wide variety of companies and government figures. Let me share a more modest proposal that’s much more in line with our existing methods of reining in potentially threatening developments: legal liability. READ MORE
AST SpaceMobile completes first space-based voice call using smartphones
AST SpaceMobile announced Tuesday that it made the first-ever space-based voice call to a standard smartphone.
The two-way voice calls were completed directly to everyday unmodified smartphones using the BlueWalker 3, or BW3, satellite.
Engineers from Vodafone, Rakuten and AT&T participated in the preparation and testing. READ MORE