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The World
Some 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in October. The number of people who left jobs for other opportunities in October made up 2.8% of the workforce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. In contrast, the survey found 11 million job openings, only slightly less than the record from July. A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September. August’s numbers, at 4.3 million, were also a record at the time. In contrast, in February 2020, before the big wave of pandemic-related layoffs began, 2.3 percent of workers quit their jobs — underscoring that the October data remains extremely elevated. (Washington Post)
Pay cuts for remote workers who move to less expensive areas are likely to vanish in 2022. Because of the scramble for top employees, the local cost of living may become less of a factor in setting wages. In 2022, "more employers (especially in tech) will walk back or reduce location-based pay adjustments," according to a Glassdoor report. As a result, more workers may move away from headquarters in pricey cities. (Axios)
Only 14% of European workers want to return to the office 9-5, and more than half say they have become more productive as a result of working from home, which has boomed amid lockdowns and restrictions. But "hybrid working" - a mix of working at home and at the office - also has its downside, with over a quarter of respondents feeling like they work all hours or into the night, according to the survey commissioned by Samsung and The Future Laboratory. (Reuters)
Lyft won’t require staff to return to the office until 2023 at the earliest. (Bloomberg)
The industries where workers quit the most. (Washington Post)
People who have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are likely susceptible to infection from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but a third shot — a booster — restores antibody activity against the virus. (STAT News)
The U.S. Senate approved a Republican measure that would overturn President Biden's COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for private businesses, with two Democrats joining Republicans to back the initiative. The 52-48 vote sends the legislation to the Democratic-led House of Representatives, where it faces strong headwinds, while Biden has threatened to veto it. (Reuters)
Nearly two years into the pandemic, every country remains dangerously unprepared to respond to future epidemic and pandemic threats. Researchers compiling the Global Health Security Index found insufficient capacity in every country. The U.S. maintained its top overall ranking — it was also No. 1 when the first index was released in 2019. But the U.S. also scored lowest on public confidence in government, a key factor associated with high numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths. The other countries in the top 10: Australia, Finland, Canada, Thailand, Slovenia, the UK, Germany, South Korea and Sweden. (Washington Post)
In the UK, Boris Johnson once again told people to work from home as he tightened restrictions after being warned that a million people would catch the Omicron variant in the next month. Covid passports will be required for big events and masks made compulsory in all indoor public places in England, apart from hospitality. (The Times)
Canada joined Australia, Britain and the U.S. in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, with China calling the boycotts "political posturing" and a smear campaign. (Reuters)
Who is Olaf Scholz: Germany's new chancellor is level-headed and pragmatic. Taking defeat without complaining, getting back up and carrying on undeterred, and never ever seeming to doubt himself – those seem to be the guiding principles of Olaf Scholz. He was born in the western German city of Osnabrück in 1958 but has for several years now lived in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, together with his wife, Britta Ernst, who is education minister in the state of Brandenburg. Scholz displays unwavering self-confidence. In his decades-long political career, he has experienced a number of upsets, none of which have been able to throw him off course in the long term. (Deutsche Welle)
The challenges facing Olaf Scholz’s new German government: Overcoming coronavirus; sputtering economy; meeting climate goals while keeping the lights on; foreign policy challenges; investment versus debt. (Financial Times)
Instagram head Adam Mosseri testified before Senate lawmakers and was pressed on the app's impacts on young children and teens. Four key moments: 1) Mosseri did not commit to never pursuing an Instagram for Kids app; 2) Senators managed to catch Mosseri off-guard a few times about Instagram policies; 3) Mosseri hesitated to say Instagram was addictive or bad for mental health; 4) Instagram will soon let users go back to a chronological feed. (Axios)
Economy
Wall Street's 2022 market forecasts differ by the second-most in a decade: The newly hawkish Federal Reserve and the ever-evolving virus have made life difficult for Wall Street’s stock prognosticators. So far, the range of S&P 500 estimates compiled by Bloomberg for 2022 stretches from 4,400 to 5,300 -- a 20% spread that is the second-widest in a decade. (Bloomberg)
Executives of six leading cryptocurrency companies, appearing before the House Financial Services Committee, advocated for light regulation as Washington policymakers consider how to impose federal oversight. They encountered early signs of a partisan split in lawmakers’ approach to their technology. Democrats voiced concerns about the volatility of digital assets, the adequacy of consumer protections and the potential for terrorist and criminal abuses. Republicans largely focused on the risk that heavy-handed regulation will snuff out innovation or chase it overseas. (Washington Post)
Kellogg said it is permanently replacing 1,400 workers who have been on strike since October, a decision that comes as the majority of its cereal plant workforce rejected a deal that would have provided 3% raises. The rejected offer would have provided cost of living adjustments in the later years of the deal and preserved the workers’ current healthcare benefits. But workers say they deserve significant raises because they routinely work more than 80 hours a week, and they kept the plants running throughout the pandemic. (The Guardian)
Returns from European venture capital investments have exceeded those from similar investments in the U.S. in every time period for the past two decades. 2,826 institutions participated in at least one European technology funding deal in 2021, up from 2,044 two years ago. European startups are on track to exceed $100 billion in total venture capital investment this year, more than double the total such companies raised in 2020. Europe’s technology ecosystem is soaring, too, with estimates that the total ecosystem value exceeds $3 trillion, three times its estimate in 2018 when Europe crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark for the first time. (Fortune)
November set another new record for global venture funding, with $65 billion raised. Global funding in 2021 has topped $580 billion as of the end of November, compared to $335 billion in funding for 2020. Last month was also the third month this year to peak at over $60 billion. (Crunchbase)
Technology
Apple has allowed app developers to collect data from its 1bn iPhone users for targeted advertising, in an unacknowledged shift that lets companies follow a much looser interpretation of its controversial privacy policy. In May Apple communicated its privacy changes to the wider public — including an “Ask App Not to Track” prompt. But seven months later, companies including Snap and Facebook have been allowed to keep sharing user-level signals from iPhones, as long as that data is anonymized and aggregated rather than tied to specific user profiles. (Financial Times)
An appeals court paused one of the most consequential parts of the Epic v. Apple ruling, placing a stay on the enforcement of the injunction issued by the lower court. As a result of the stay, Apple can maintain its IAP system as the sole source of in-app payments on iOS, despite the district court’s earlier ruling that the exclusive arrangement is illegal. (The Verge)
AirPods Pro 2, the first update since 2019, will launch in 4Q22 with a Beats Fit Pro-like design, an improved chip, fitness tracking, and more. Also, Apple's first AR headset, weighing 300g-400g, will enter mass production in late Q4 2022; Apple plans to launch a lighter second-gen headset in 2024. (MacRumors)
Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter is making a big bet on the blockchain, announcing plans to create an open source protocol “that will essentially create a decentralized version of Kickstarter’s core functionality.” The company says the goal is for multiple platforms to embrace the protocol, including, eventually, Kickstarter[dot]com. (TechCrunch)
Multiple reports about the reactions of consumers to the Amazon Web Services outage provided a hilarious reminder of how quickly people have become dependent on web-connected devices. In reports worthy of the satirical publication The Onion, many people appear to be surprised that there is a downside to connecting all their household appliances to the internet. As a Bloomberg article reported, some people found they couldn’t get into their homes because Ring doorbells didn’t work, while others couldn’t turn on the lights or vacuum because other smart appliances were not turning on. A report in The Wall Street Journal quoted a game designer saying he had to “resort to getting a broom and dustpan” to clean his house. “It was crazy,” he added. (The Information)
Build vs. buy? A look at two midsize companies that decided to write their own software—and the list of competencies any companies should have before going that route. (Harvard Business Review)
Betting is the next battleground in sports streaming: With more cord-cutting options to choose from than ever before, sports fans have a veritable cornucopia of live services from which to pick. And as those services come up with new ways to win over viewers and keep them tuned in, some appear to be coalescing around a big new feature: betting. Streaming services across the industry have started to add betting features alongside their sports feeds, offering a way to increase engagement and open a new revenue stream in the process. Disney, DAZN, FuboTV, Sling, and others have either launched betting companion features or have expressed an interest in entering the space in the US — and why wouldn’t they? Any savvy sports service would recognize betting has been synonymous with matches for as long as anyone can remember. And there’s plenty of money to be made. (The Verge)
Smart Links
New York Rangers become hockey’s first $2 billion team (Forbes)
Over 40 million people had health information leaked this year. (The Verge)
A new Tesla safety concern: Drivers can play video games in moving cars. (New York Times)
Australia sets M&A record as dealmakers revel in rebound. (Financial Times)
Biden nominates Meg Whitman as ambassador to Kenya. (The Hill)
Roku and Google agree to a multi-year extension for YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku. (Axios)