economy

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Unpaid Care: The Underground Economy

In August 2021, when my 62-year-old mother said hello on FaceTime, she was holding the side of her jaw, grimacing. She was in anguish, but kept repeating, “I’m OK, I’m OK.” At the time, my mom was living in Bellingham, Washington, two years into providing unpaid live-in care for her father-in-law (my step-grandfather, who I reluctantly call “Grandpa,” despite not having much of a relationship with him). He was suffering from debilitating cancer and heart disease. But providing home care to him came at a price to my mom’s health, safety, financial security, and family. The job was all-consuming: She quit painting and gardening, which she loved, and she grew isolated from her own children and grandkids during the COVID-19 pandemic. My mom’s experience is not unique. She is among the roughl...

Love Sharing Funny Animal Videos? You’re Part Of The Cute Economy

19Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CULTURE, TOP FOUR

Love Sharing Funny Animal Videos? You’re Part Of The Cute Economy

Was one of the last DMs you received on Instagram a video of ducklings wearing flowers for hats, or floating in a sink full of water? An overly zealous cockapoo dancing on the couch with his human? A husky throwing a temper tantrum because he couldn’t come indoors? If sharing cute animal content is your love language, you’re not alone — you are part of a bigger cultural phenomenon called the cute economy. The cute economy is not only a network of cute content that people participate in making, sharing and circulating but also a multibillion-dollar business due to creators’ ability to monetize their content. What is the cute economy? Media researcher James Meese defines the cute economy as the creation and circulation of user-generated content depicting entities (animals, babies, plants, ...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, WORK

Gen Z Is All About The Gig Economy

Millennials (Gen Y) have already established a secure spot and are leading the show, they will now need to equip themselves to head the novice. With this shift in the generation, HR will need to begin its groundwork to embrace the new wave of staffing from the true digital natives (Gen Z). Gen Z is always in constant touch with the digital world and it is quite impossible to isolate them. This new alliance with fresh talent doesn't come all that easy. Recruiters have to look at the on-boarding of this Generation as a possible organizational disruption and restructure business operations and administration to best engage the post-millennials. The contemporary job market sees recruitment teams and managers hiring more contingent workers. The traits Gen Z carries manifests the fact that ...

As States Weigh Human Lives Versus The Economy, History Suggests The Economy Often Wins

31Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

MONEY

As States Weigh Human Lives Versus The Economy, History Suggests The Economy Often Wins

Policymakers are beginning to decide how to reopen the American economy. Until now, they’ve largely prioritized human health: Restrictions in all but a handful of states remain in effect, and trillions have been committed to help shuttered businesses and those who have been furloughed or laid off. The right time to start opening up sectors of the economy has been up for debate. But history shows that in the wake of calamities, human life often loses out to economic imperatives. As a historian of early America who has written about tobacco and the aftermath of an epidemic in New England, I’ve seen similar considerations made in the face of disease outbreaks. And I believe that there are crucial lessons to be drawn from two 17th-century outbreaks during which economic interests of a select...

Part Of The Online Gig Economy, Sex work Is A Lifeline For Marginalized Workers

18May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Part Of The Online Gig Economy, Sex work Is A Lifeline For Marginalized Workers

More people are getting involved in more types of sex work, especially with the help of the internet, despite criminalization of their occupations and activist opposition, some of which threatens people’s lives. My research interviewing a wide range of sex workers finds that more people are involved in the industry, including marginalized people who are finding it a literal lifeline in tough economic times. The internet has diversified forms of sex work, aided in the industry’s growth and interconnected previously unconnected types of sex work. Demand for amateur, non-studio-based porn has grown, expanding online pornographic industries like camming, in which performers interact with viewers. Online sex workers post content on specialized hosting sites. Other websites connect phone sex wo...

As The Ever Given Fiasco Illustrates, Today’s Global Economy Runs On Standardized Shipping Containers

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

As The Ever Given Fiasco Illustrates, Today’s Global Economy Runs On Standardized Shipping Containers

Take a look around you. Perhaps you’re snacking on a banana, sipping some coffee or sitting in front of your computer and taking a break from work to read this article. Most likely, those goods – as well as your smartphone, refrigerator and virtually every other object in your home – were once loaded onto a large container in another country and traveled thousands of miles via ships crossing the ocean before ultimately arriving at your doorstep. Today, an estimated 90% of the world’s goods are transported by sea, with 60% of that – including virtually all your imported fruits, gadgets and appliances – packed in large steel containers. The rest is mainly commodities like oil or grains that are poured directly into the hull. In total, about US$14 trillion of the world’s goods spend some ti...

The US economy is reliant on consumer spending – can it survive a pandemic?

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

VIDEO REELS

The US economy is reliant on consumer spending – can it survive a pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically affected the American economy, reducing spending by American households on materials goods, air travel, leisure activities as well as the use of automobiles. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions have temporarily fallen dramatically. While this may be a positive for the environment, the social price is high: Since the U.S. economy depends heavily on consumer spending, the country is experiencing the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, the threat of homelessness for tens of thousands of people and a failure of businesses large and small. How did the U.S. arrive at the point whereby mass consumption – and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with it – is necessary for economic and social well-being? Are greenhouse gas reductions and a...

Sending international students home would sap US influence and hurt the economy

8Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Sending international students home would sap US influence and hurt the economy

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made a decision on July 6 regarding international students in the U.S. that will affect far more than just the roughly 870,000 international students themselves. Based on what I know about the power and influence of higher education in the U.S., this decision could increase the tuition American students pay, cost thousands of jobs throughout the nation and erode America’s stature in the world. Under this new rule, international students may stay in the country only if they attend a college or university offering in-person classes this fall. Otherwise, they won’t be able to get visas, enter the country or stay here if they plan to attend one of the many schools that are teaching students entirely online. In effect, thousands of students f...

Clap all you like now, but workers with meaningful jobs deserve to be valued in a post-coronavirus economy too

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Clap all you like now, but workers with meaningful jobs deserve to be valued in a post-coronavirus economy too

The coronavirus recession has laid bare how illogically the U.S. labor market values work that matters. In the United States, as elsewhere, citizens have been extolling the role of essential workers – such as nurses, grocery suppliers and delivery drivers – by, for example, rewarding them with nightly claps. Yet many of these employees receive low pay and few protections, suggesting a different appreciation of their worth in the market. But in highlighting this disconnect, perhaps the crisis has also provided an opportunity to reimagine an economy that values jobs for something more than just wealth creation: meaningfulness. A moral market? Meaningfulness has to do with how much one’s work matters in a moral sense, which is not always signified by how much money a job pays. It often rela...

Why are white supremacists protesting to ‘reopen’ the US economy?

29Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Why are white supremacists protesting to ‘reopen’ the US economy?

A series of protests, primarily in state capitals, are demanding the end of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Among the protesters are people who express concern about their jobs or the economy as a whole. But there are also far-right conspiracy theorists, white supremacists like Proud Boys and citizens’ militia members at these protests. The exact number of each group that attends these protests is unknown, since police have not traditionally monitored these groups, but signs and symbols of far right groups have been seen at many of these protests across the country. These protests risk spreading the virus and have disrupted traffic, potentially delaying ambulances. But as researchers of street gangs’ and far-right groups’ violence and recruitment, we believe these protests may become a w...