What we’re reading (1/9)
“The Debate Swirling Inside HR Departments: How To Lay Off Workers” (Wall Street Journal). “Executives considering downsizing are currently grappling with the same problem: finding the most effective way to let employees go. Is it better to get layoffs over with all at once even at the risk of cutting too deep? Is firing over Zoom more humane than making an employee come into the office to lose their job? How much severance pay is fair?”
“Where Are The Workers? From Great Resignation To Quiet Quitting” (Lee, Park, and Shin, working paper). “To better understand the tight post-pandemic labor market in the US, we decompose the decline in aggregate hours worked into the extensive (fewer people working) and the intensive margin changes (workers working fewer hours). Although the pre-existing trend of lower labor force participation especially by young men without a bachelor's degree accounts for some of the decline in aggregate hours, the intensive margin accounts for more than half of the decline between 2019 and 2022. The decline in hours among workers was larger for men than women. Among men, the decline was larger for those with a bachelor's degree than those with less education, for prime-age workers than older workers, and also for those who already worked long hours and had high earnings. Workers' hours reduction can explain why the labor market is even tighter than what is expected at the current levels of unemployment and labor force participation.”
“Wall Street Braces For A Weak Earnings Season” (New York Times). “Stocks may have eked out gains so far in the new year, but it may not last. With corporate earnings season kicking off this week, Wall Street is pricing in a rough quarter ahead — including for itself, with Goldman Sachs and other banks preparing for layoffs.”
“The Dystopia We Fear Is Keeping Us From The Utopia We Deserve” (New York Times). “In his fascinating, frustrating book ‘Where Is My Flying Car?’ J. Storrs Hall argues that we do not realize how much our diminished energy ambitions have cost us. Across the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the energy humanity could harness grew at about 7 percent annually. Humanity’s compounding energetic force, he writes, powered tthe optimism and constant improvement of life in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.’ But starting around 1970, the curve flattened, particularly in rich countries, which began doing more with less.”
“4 Changes In The Labor Market That Could Signal A Recession” (Vox). “The economy is confusing right now. Many economists are predicting the United States will slip into a recession in the next year. Inflation remains stubbornly high, and the Federal Reserve continues to aggressively raise interest rates. But the labor market has held up: Employers are struggling to fill open positions and the unemployment rate remains low.”
