Employment

Review: Rockonomics nicely reflects the real world

7 Jun 2019

Alan Krueger’s posthumous work on the finances of rock and roll functions in equal parts as a basic industry primer, a textbook on broader economic concepts and a guidebook for musicians wanting to start a band. It’s also a window, if an imperfect one, into the author’s soul.

More American workers take one for the team

3 May 2019

U.S. job creation accelerated in April, trimming the unemployment rate to a 50-year low of 3.6 pct. Yet wage growth remains modest and other data suggest slack in the labor market. Employees getting less than their historical share is the price for keeping the recovery going.

Recruitment is weak link in U.S.-China tech war

18 Mar 2019

Trump officials are building IP theft cases and mulling AI export bans. But the government can’t stop Chinese firms from opening offices stateside and hiring from rivals: Tesla wannabe Nio has 600 workers in San Jose. Talent is fair game and U.S. firms must fend for themselves.

Review: Gig-economy firms tread precarious path

8 Mar 2019

The likes of Uber tapped casualised labour to become global giants. They have created a “precariat” class of workers, open to exploitation and abuse. Colin Crouch’s “Will the Gig Economy Prevail?” offers a manifesto for a benign alternative, but underplays technological shifts.

Brexit paints go-slower stripe on UK car industry

19 Feb 2019

Plant closures like Honda’s in Swindon raise the spectre of decline for Britain’s auto sector. Yet the underperforming site always looked vulnerable. The bigger test is whether global carmakers want to build electric vehicles in the UK. Brexit will prove a huge deterrent.

Amazon, NYC shoot selves and each other in foot

14 Feb 2019

Jeff Bezos’s company is ditching its Big Apple HQ plan after local opposition to the $3 bln in incentives it would receive. It makes Amazon look short-term greedy and uninterested in community concerns. Punchy politicians, meanwhile, have cost the city jobs and tax revenue.

Healthy U.S. job growth tells markets to cheer up

1 Feb 2019

Employers added a robust 304,000 positions last month. The jobless rate rose to 4 pct but it’s due to the government shutdown. The Fed recently reassured gloomy investors worried about global growth. But the U.S. economy is a better guide for the central bank than stock prices.

Review: The hollowing out of white-collar work

25 Jan 2019

New technologies and international trade have been disrupting jobs for some time. Now automation and global competition will do the same thing to Western services industries, Richard Baldwin argues in “The Globotics Upheaval”. Dysfunctional democracies are ill-prepared to cope.

Context makes Santander’s Orcel fail even worse

18 Jan 2019

The Spanish bank expected UBS to honour a portion of its would-be CEO’s deferred pay. But recent executive moves at Deutsche Bank and Barclays saw new hires compensated in full. Andrea Orcel’s acceptance of a cut was a concession – making it all the odder Santander backed out.

Ford’s European repair job may need outside help

10 Jan 2019

If boss Jim Hackett hits long-term profit targets, the carmaker’s market value could rise by $10 bln. Yet that requires implausible cost cuts. Partnering with or selling to a continental rival might be better. Peugeot’s purchase of GM’s European arm shows both sides can benefit.

Strong U.S. jobs are weak tonic for markets

4 Jan 2019

Payrolls expanded at a surprisingly robust pace in December and wages ticked higher. The data shows an American economy ending the year on a high note. But employment is a lagging indicator. Slowing earnings and trade-war risks are likely to be more powerful market motivators.

German carmakers could show Trump art of the deal

14 Dec 2018

VW, Daimler and BMW are vulnerable to 25 pct auto tariffs threatened by the U.S. president, who’s also railing against GM for idling plants. The Germans could win some goodwill by taking up some of their American rivals’ spare capacity. That’s easier done for some than others.

Review: The uncertain new world of labour

7 Dec 2018

The number of worried and desperate workers seems to be increasing. Some cultural critics see a symptom of modern social decay. “Precarious Lives” looks at the numbers and finds mild damage. Its main finding: a strong welfare state is welcome, but this problem is hard to solve.

Mary Barra belatedly supercharges GM’s strategy

26 Nov 2018

Her decision to scrap low-selling brands and thin the $53 bln carmaker’s bloated executive ranks was overdue. But cutting $6 bln of costs gives GM more fuel to weather trade wars and slowing sales – and to inject into the electric-vehicle and self-driving race Barra hopes to win.

Jeff Bezos spreads jobs and disappointment

13 Nov 2018

By splitting his ballyhooed HQ2 between New York City and greater Washington, the Amazon boss can tap deep pools of tech talent. But the unconventional choice aggravates the socioeconomic divisions that plague America. It also exposes the year-long exercise as somewhat of a sham.

Goldman plays at VIP commodity theory

7 Nov 2018

The Wall Street bank elevated a measly 69 staff to partner level, even though its workforce and earnings are growing. Making the coveted title scarcer is intended to give staff a nudge. Ensuring it’s more accessible to people Goldman could use more of should be equally important.

South African boring is once again interesting

2 Nov 2018

New rules for the Rainbow Nation’s struggling mining industry strike a decent balance. Making investors bear less of apartheid’s social legacy will stop the sector’s decline. Taking the affirmative action shackles off explorers might even create some much-needed growth.

Hadas: Six economic reasons to hate Uber

25 Oct 2018

Economists are wrong to drool over the car service provider as an exemplar of free markets. This financial zombie has destructive effects on transit, a dysfunctional strategy and an antisocial approach to regulation. Also, it hurts its workers and makes investors look foolish.

Trump’s Saudi arms deal isn’t a jobs offensive

23 Oct 2018

The U.S. president is urging Congress not to sanction Saudi Arabia by blocking arms sales, saying that could jeopardize 1 million jobs. The deal would probably boost profit margins for Lockheed and others but not do much for employment. Claims to the contrary are largely spin.

Amazon gender-diversity fail shows limits of tech

10 Oct 2018

The $900 bln e-commerce giant scrapped a résumé-reviewing computer program after discovering it was prejudiced against women. Algorithms and machine learning hold promise, but are limited by programmers’ own biases. Weeding out such regressive traits requires human intervention.