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Hey Insiders, Thanks for reading another edition of Inside Business. Today, we look at the strange trend of U.S. companies hiring employees but those employees working fewer hours, how local officials can hurt local newspapers, and how AI is influencing celebrities and yogurt companies. If there's a topic you want to see discussed in the newsletter, let us know! Christopher p/chris951156 | |
1 | The current U.S. hiring boom happening across the country is different than ones in the past. That's because, while companies are adding employees at a rapid rate, the number of hours those employees are working is dropping. More: - The average number of hours worked by private sector employees declined to 34.3 in May, making it lower than the 2019 average.
- It is also down from the peak of 35 hours in January 2021.
- Typically, employers cutting hours is seen as a sign of recession. But payrolls rose by 339,000 in May and by nearly 1.6 million this year.
- Layoffs were nearly 13% lower in April than they were in any average month in 2019, according to the Labor Department.
- Part of the reasoning behind the hiring of employees for fewer hours has been the hassle and expense of hiring and training new employees when businesses are picking up again, as it is a tougher time to focus on the hiring and training processes.
- Businesses are also able to fill long unfilled roles and help employees that were doing more work to cover for the lack of backfill to scale back.
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2 | What the numbers say: Daily newspaper circulation has declined steadily since the 1990s in the U.S. With the birth of the Internet, the need for print newspapers reduced substantially. At the peak of the total circulation in the U.S. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, more than 62 million newspapers were delivered daily. The newspaper industry is fighting to stay alive now, as it is estimated that just over 24 million daily newspapers were circulated in 2020. Relevance: Some local officials are taking away their hometown newspapers' abilities to print non-biased news. The New York Times reported about how local officials who did not like how coverage was focused have taken away newspapers' lucrative contracts to print public notices. In most of the country, state and local laws require public announcements, such as town meetings, elections, land sales, and more, to be printed in the newspaper. This is one of the largest sources of income for local newspapers. Public officials can revoke those contracts though, which has happened in Colorado, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, and California. Florida even revoked the requirement of printing public notices to deny local papers that contract. More data: Whether it's local or national newspapers, daily, weekly, and weekend editions are trending downward as a whole. Circulation of Sunday editions of newspapers in the U.S. dropped to an estimated 25.7 million copies in 2020, down from the high of 62.6 million in 1990. | | |
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3 | Wall Street is seeing a large number of job cuts, as the amount of layoffs at the largest U.S. banks is expected to pass 11,000 this year. Citigroup is the latest bank to announce job cuts, telling investors it plans to lay off 5,000 employees by the end of the second quarter. More: - Thousands of bankers have been laid off at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley so far this year.
- Executives are trying to undo the recruitment spree that started after the economy rebounded following the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The tight labor market after the pandemic led companies to hire aggressively and offer retention packages.
- At the end of the first quarter of this year, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, collectively employed 882,000 employees around the world.
- That's 100,000 more than there were in March 2020.
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4 | British automaker Polestar Automotive Holding UK Plc has announced a $200M joint venture with tech company Xingji Meizu in order to keep up with digital features in China. The new venture will use Xingji Meizu's platform, Flyme Auto, as an operating system for cars. More: - The new unit will offer in-car apps, streaming services, and intelligent vehicle software for Polestar vehicles.
- This will also extend to augmented reality devices, the company said in a statement.
- Flyme Auto is a result of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Xingji Meizu's parent company, wanting to create more car technology in-house.
- Drivers in China have utilized in-car technology for karaoke and friendly entertainment robots.
- Polestar will own 49% of the new venture and is expected to transfer 150 commercial staff members in China to the new company. It will only cater to the Chinese market.
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5 | The Paris Air Show, a trade event where companies have the opportunity to show off new technology and aircraft, returned Monday after a four-year hiatus. This is during a surge of air travel around the world, and airlines are in need of jets. More: - The biggest question looming is whether Boeing, Airbus, and other suppliers can match the demands.
- "That's creating pressure on the order books — it's creating upward momentum on used aircraft lease rates and forcing airlines to make compromises," said Andy Cronin, CEO of aircraft-leasing firm Avolon.
- Estimates by aviation analytics firm IBA suggest that more than 2,100 planes could be ordered during the show.
- Turkish Airlines' chairman said the company would look to order 600 aircraft.
- Airlines are preparing for growth as well as looking to replace older planes in their fleets.
- The major challenge is increasing production, as narrow-body jets are sold out for years.
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6 | Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairperson Warren Buffett has increased the company's holdings in Japan's five biggest trading houses. Berkshire Hathaway increased stakes in Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., and Sumitomo. More: - Buffett's stakes in those trading houses now average more than 8.5%.
- The nation's stock market, Nikkei 225, is seeing multi-year highs and investing has helped the shares soar. 10 weeks of consecutive gains have the Nikkei up 28% on the year.
- Japanese trading houses deal in materials, products, and foods, while providing logistical support and serving as intermediaries.
- The aggregate investments are the largest of any Berkshire-held public stocks outside the U.S.
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- The departure of Nissan's COO has Renault excited about the prospects of speeding up its alliance deal with the company.
- Celebrities can use AI for business reasons like generating duplicates to help their brands.
- AI is changing the way a 104-year-old French yogurt company is innovating.
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| Freelance Editor | Christopher Hachey is a freelance writer and editor based in the New York City area. He has spent most of the past 15 years in newsrooms covering all kinds of topics like sports, tech, business, finance, and commerce. He's now returning to his broadcast journalism roots by diving into podcasting news. Reach out to him at chris@inside.com | This newsletter was edited by Gregory Bridgman | |
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