Employment

China cuts its private sector much-needed slack

9 Dec 2024

Crackdowns on education and other industries crushed businesses like tutoring firm New Oriental. But the $10 bln firm's recent revival shows Beijing is loosening its grip to boost consumption and create jobs. The shift will hand private giants a bigger role to reboot growth.

Union flaws run amok on both sides of picket line

4 Oct 2024

Port workers on the US East Coast have negotiated a 62% pay rise over six years. The resolution seems fair. But the process has highlighted gross inefficiencies – from overpaid union leaders to a nebulous counterparty. A revamp of unions, in the absence of politics, is necessary.

Court-emboldened capital puts labor on front lines

9 Aug 2024

Starbucks and SpaceX are among the employers testing the scope of a recent US Supreme Court decision against SEC tribunals. If it extends to a labor law agency, it would be a setback for reinvigorated unions and give companies proof of concept to undo rulings elsewhere.

Big business curbs India’s populist instinct

22 Jul 2024

Bengaluru's home state of Karnataka backed down from a plan to force firms to hire more locals following a strong industry backlash. It's a relief for employers from Goldman Sachs to AB InBev. But pressure from the jobs crisis is building and will keep rearing its ugly head.

UK labour market’s pain is Labour Party’s gain

18 Jun 2024

Britain’s 4.4% unemployment rate is its highest since 2021. That’s good for the Bank of England, which needs slower wage growth to cut rates. It also suits opposition leader Keir Starmer, who could get an early monetary policy boost should he win the UK’s July 4 election.

India’s inequality deserves a bigger risk premium

12 Jun 2024

Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered his biggest electoral blow in one of the nation’s poorest states. By one measure, the gap between haves and have-nots is wider than during British rule. Closing it is tricky. Without change, though, stability will hang by a thread.

Silicon Valley models value of noncompete ban

24 Apr 2024

A new FTC rule forbids US companies from stopping employees joining a rival, or starting one. Freeing up opportunities for a fifth of the workforce should boost pay. California’s tech hub also showcases other benefits of labor mobility. Intel, for example, exists because of it.

Buyout barons salivate at Toshiba job cuts

22 Apr 2024

They extract world-beating returns from deals in Japan often without reducing staff because lifetime employment is the norm. Now the private equity-owned conglomerate may cut 5,000 roles. A tight labour market helps, but if layoffs catch on acquirors could both pay and earn more.

Carmakers will blink first in union standoff

22 Sep 2023

The UAW is expanding strikes at GM and Stellantis, but not at Ford, where the union sees progress. Divide-and-conquer will stretch labor funds and selectively boost the financial impact – some $48 mln a week at the F-Series pickup manufacturer alone. Workers have the upper hand.

Capital Calls: Four-day workweek

19 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: US Senator Bernie Sanders joined striking autoworkers in urging a conversation about shortening the workweek. Rising productivity has long enabled labor to win fewer hours. With disruptive new technologies rising, bigger victories make sense.

Capital Calls: Lithium M&A

4 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: Albemarle’s $4.3 bln sweetened all-cash offer for lithium miner Liontown has financial merit, as well as offering it a handy hedge against Chile’s plan to nationalise resource assets.

Capital Calls: Temps frayed

1 Sep 2023

Concise views on global finance: Despite adding another 187,000 jobs in August, the number of short-term workers such as event staff kept falling in the United States. It’s a sign of a weakening labor market and, history suggests, a recessionary omen.

Next job-market challenge: the Great Unresignation

4 Aug 2023

Recent labor shortages pushed up hiring costs for US companies. But firms including Wells Fargo and State Street now say fewer staff quit than they expected, so they’re having to give them a push. It’s the kind of wrinkle that makes seemingly healthy jobs data harder to read.

‘Immaculate disinflation’ places Fed in purgatory

25 Jul 2023

Inflation is falling towards the US central bank’s 2% target without a recession or job losses. History and economic theory suggested such a feat was impossible. Doubts over conventional thinking leave policymakers in a bind over the next stage of their fight to rein in prices.

Gig work value is too great to rush a US overhaul

11 May 2023

Biden’s pick for Labor Secretary has moved to classify freelancers like Uber drivers as regular employees. That would give gig workers benefits, but risks discouraging firms from hiring them. With freelancers earning $1.4 trillion, a hiring slump could weaken the broader economy.

American employers deliver bittersweet message

5 May 2023

Joblessness dipped back to a historically low 3.4% in April, while wages jumped to a healthy 4.4% annualized rate. With interest rates jacked up beyond 5%, the labor market’s strength defies convention. Good news for workers now signals higher borrowing costs for longer.

Hollywood writers’ fight previews messy new era

2 May 2023

Screen scribes decided to strike for better pay, just as the media industry enters a new phase of austerity that could shrink its $130 bln in annual content spending. With the streaming boom fading, there will be even more tensions in the leaner, meaner age of Hollywood.

Market nerves tie US rate-setters’ hands

22 Mar 2023

The Federal Reserve's quarter-point rate hike was the best it could do without creating other issues. Higher rates put more stress on banks, but investors expected such a move. Chair Jay Powell might not like following behind markets, but nor can he afford to surprise them.

US jobs data can spare Fed rate ratchet

10 Mar 2023

A larger-than-expected gain of 311,000 jobs might stoke inflation-fighters’ fears, but slowing wage growth and returning workers show a labor market in the sweet spot. That gives policymakers weighing further hikes in borrowing costs the opportunity to take a patient approach.

America’s white-collar shakeout is almost here

16 Feb 2023

The rising number of U.S. layoffs is at odds with the low number of benefit claims. One explanation: Job cuts have been focused on tech and finance workers with severance packages and healthy savings. The question is whether those cushions can outlast the labor-market slowdown.