Labour

Longer weekends are the next economic battleground

10 Dec 2021

The United Arab Emirates is slicing half a day off the working week while companies experiment with shorter hours. A lasting shift requires a majority to follow, even as tech makes it harder to log off. But post-pandemic workers may be more willing to trade labour for leisure.

EU gig economy faces lengthy fight with Brussels

9 Dec 2021

Draft rules would reclassify up to 4 mln of the bloc’s freelancers as employees. That will raise costs and dent demand for firms relying on the self-employed. Ride-hailing and food-delivery groups can tweak business models or argue in court. The winner won’t be clear for years.

VW’s CEO soap opera is darker than Tesla’s

7 Dec 2021

Herbert Diess is likely to stay as the German carmaker’s boss but with wings clipped after a clash with unions. His ambitious battery plans make Volkswagen a more credible rival to Elon Musk’s firm. Unlike the Tesla founder’s antics, its leadership dramas reflect deep challenges.

Review: An antidote to the cult of busyness

3 Dec 2021

The pandemic focused minds on life’s brevity. Oliver Burkeman delves into fruitful approaches to using that limited time in “Four Thousand Weeks”. It’s an articulate reflection on distraction, the joyless urgency of productivity hacks, and why keeping options open may be futile.

Central Europe is monetary policy’s control test

8 Nov 2021

The Czech, Polish and Hungarian central banks are hiking interest rates, the traditional riposte to rising inflation. In contrast, peers in major economies are responding less aggressively to price pressures. That makes for an interesting experiment.

Covid, guns, drugs fuel irreparable labor shortage

3 Nov 2021

U.S. employers are scrambling as a record 4.3 mln people quit their jobs in August. The past year-plus also brought some 900,000 deaths from the virus, shootings and overdoses. And 2 mln more retired than expected. Even those capable of returning need more than just higher wages.

Capital Calls: Microsoft vs. Apple, U.S. consumers

29 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: The software giant overtakes the iPhone maker to become the world’s most valuable company at $2.5 trln. Meanwhile, slower U.S. consumer spending in September is likely to be temporary; inventory glitches are bigger problem for Apple, Amazon.

Capital Calls: Worker shortages spread to IT staff

14 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: It’s not just lorry drivers and warehouse labourers who are in short supply. British white-collar recruiter Hays on Thursday reported record revenue from finding technology employees.

Nobel rewards rigour in messy real-life tests

11 Oct 2021

The three winners of the economics prize aimed to spot cause and effect when actual events create experiments that lack lab-style controls. David Card’s work on wages and immigration, in particular, is newly relevant as workers seek higher pay and dislocations like Brexit unfold.

Tepid jobs report obscures promising U.S. trends

8 Oct 2021

Payrolls grew by 194,000 in September, well below forecasts. But the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% and average monthly job gains this year are about 560,000. The Fed won't be rushing to cool the economy. But declining Covid cases should help the recovery keep going.

Trucker shortage turbocharges haulage payments IPO

28 Sep 2021

Eurowag has built a lucrative business planning routes and handling payments for haulage firms. A dearth of drivers makes it more important to minimise empty trucks. Even a top-gear 1.7 bln euro valuation leaves mileage for investors in the Czech company’s upcoming London float.

UK trucker shortage tows inflation in its wake

27 Sep 2021

The government is recruiting foreign drivers, suspending competition rules and may use the army to ease a fuel crunch which triggered panic buying. That should limit the hit to Britain’s road-dependent economy. But sharply higher wages will accelerate annual inflation towards 4%.

Rishi Sunak pays if BoE inflation bet goes awry

22 Sep 2021

Surging prices mean the UK finance minister has to pay more interest on outstanding debt. Blame Britain’s love of bonds tied to inflation. The bill will be even bigger if price pressures are more stubborn than the Bank of England expects, forcing hasty monetary policy tightening.

Capital Calls: Microsoft’s buyback, Railway M&A

15 Sep 2021

Concise views on global finance: the software giant’s $60 bln stock repurchase plan is smaller than it sounds; meanwhile, a tangled takeover battle for train operator Kansas City Southern takes a messy new track.

Job market mismatches are a long-term headache

8 Sep 2021

There are more U.S. vacancies than unemployed people. The post-pandemic reopening is causing temporary staff shortages despite joblessness elsewhere. But it’s also a long-term trend that will pose a tricky problem for central bankers as unemployment and rising wages coincide.

Capital Calls: U.S. jobs, $7 bln tax settlement

3 Sep 2021

Concise views on global finance: Slow U.S. job growth signals caution for the Fed; meanwhile, a giant deal between hedge fund executives and the IRS gives legs to President Biden's tax plans.

Gig-work startup is bad fit with today’s SPACs

25 Aug 2021

ShiftPixy, a temporary-employment app whose shares, floated in 2017, have lost 99% of their value since, has cut the funding target for four blank-check vehicles it is sponsoring. It looks like a last-ditch effort to score in an indiscriminate SPAC market that no longer exists.

Capital Calls: Pfizer M&A, Uber driver status

23 Aug 2021

The drugmaker has agreed to acquire Trillium Therapeutics for $2.3 billion, looking to its broader post-coronavirus strategy; a California judge has struck down a law exempting tech companies from treating drivers as full employees, complicating their push to keep costs down.

Companies offering child care get grown-up payback

20 Aug 2021

The pandemic has deterred women from working. U.S. employers are short of workers and long on office space. Patagonia, for one, says providing for employees' kids is worth it over time, and government aid can extend the perk to lower-income staff. It’s a teachable moment.

Temping giant pays rich price for staying power

28 Jul 2021

Switzerland’s Adecco will buy Belgium’s Akka for $2.3 bln. The deal accelerates its shift towards technology consulting and away from low-growth businesses like short-term office workers. But the returns seem thin and rely partly on revenue boosters, which look challenging.