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As the pandemic seems to be ending, people are not going back to work. Workers are upset with employers as their wages stay stagnant, and perks that were once the norm, are now few and far between. While many of quite (>4 million in August), many have decided to strike.

NPR discussion on behavioral economist's, Sendhil Mullainathan, book - Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, co-authored with Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir. " Poverty, they find, is like a parasite, consuming mental energy that could be put to more beneficial use. "Put simply, being poor is like having just pulled an all-nighter," Mullainathan once told NPR. And that, he says, hurts their ability to escape poverty. As Washington debates sending checks to Americans and increasing the minimum wage, a new study offers evidence for how such policies could help eliminate poverty. Obviously, giving more money to people without much money helps them with money problems. But the study adds to a growing body of research that says that money really does help workers earn more money."

"The measure, called AB 701, was approved by the state Assembly earlier in the month and signed into law by Newsom on Sept. 23. The law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, bars mega-retailers such as Amazon from firing or retaliating against warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks."

Schools across the country are offering less healthy lunch options as they struggle with dwindling supplies, delayed shipments and fewer cafeteria workers.

"The space in which work gets done has radically shifted, but human nature remains the same. As workers, we crave a digital experience that's reliable, equitable, productive, helpful, and pleasant. The organizations that overcome the "experience debt" that overhangs typical digital workplaces - by reimagining and deploying the digital workplace the right way - are the ones that will attract and retain top talent. At the same time, they're continuously improving productivity+.. In doing so, they'll become the organizations and the people that thrive in an ever-disruptive world. + = innovation, inclusion, connection, collaboration, purpose, engagement, and beyond…" This piece hints to that need for a radical new workspace. So good.

"The defining characteristic of this new version of the creative class may not be where it lives, but its ability to live anywhere it wants. Put differently, people move to certain cities in search of better-paying jobs, but it's now possible to earn high (if not the highest) salaries from almost anywhere. That has been true in certain smaller cities in recent years (Austin and Denver in the United States, for example, and Manchester and Leeds in Britain). To a lesser extent, it has also been true for people who chose not to live in cities at all." Workers hold the power and they need to be able to live and work where they want when they want. We're very reliant on humans, we need to make them valued and show that we are investing in the things they care about.

The paradoxical result of widespread remote work is that it represents both a centralization and a decentralization of where new technologies are built. That is, even as workers disperse geographically, more of them are doing their work in a single place: the internet. This change is already helping Silicon Valley giants break through logjams like regional housing crises in order to poach talent wherever it lives. The world has never managed hybrid work before. We're going to see a huge issue with culture and connection. How can you be connected and motivated. New slick tools aren't enough. Humans need and require human engagement.

Interesting article in that it takes the perspective of the worker and the effects of climate change. It asks questions about getting to zero emissions and the effects of doing so. The call is for a smooth transition--one wth minimal disruption, and the idea is that people have a right to such a transition

The job scope for materials engineers are not in decline which can bring more inovation to prevent corrosion. .The median annual wage for materials engineers was $95,640 in May 2020. Numbers of current jobs:25,100. The projected percent change in employment from 2020 to 2030. The average growth rate for all occupations is 8 percent.The projected numeric change in employment from 2020 to 2030 is 2,100. There is no additional training needed (postemployment) to attain competency in the skills needed in this occupation.The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. In May 2020, the median annual wage for all workers was $41,950.

"It's entirely possible that this carnival barker of a CEO will continue finding crafty ways to extract tax breaks and favorable contracts from government entities for the rest of his career. But we should be alive to the ways in which Musk's reputation is built on a faulty foundation of borrowed money and worker exploitation. To Musk, the government is only useful in helping to enrich him, and he otherwise expects it to stay the hell out of his way. The problem is that he is now powerful and rich enough to get his wish. For all his supposed brilliance in developing electric vehicles and rockets, this may be his greatest talent: grifting the government. In doing so, he's creating a roadmap for reform, if politicians care to notice." Now he is reached a new level of rich. What if he gets sideways with the government. What if he picks up his toys and moves to Russia? Mars? This a great example of things to come...

Here, we assess the lasting impact of the pandemic on labor demand, the mix of occupations, and the workforce skills required in eight countries with diverse economic and labor market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost half the global population and 62 percent of GDP. Another study that shows how unhappy workers are and that they're squarely in the drivers seat.

Two-thirds of people around the world want to work flexibly when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, a new survey shows. And almost a third are prepared to quit their job if the boss makes them go back to the office full time. The survey of workers in 29 nations also shows people have coped better with homeworking than some feared. The power has shifted to choice. We no longer just go work where someone tells us to go work.

A new survey-based study explains how automation is reshaping the workplace in unexpected ways. Robots can improve efficiency and quality, reduce costs, and even help create more jobs for their human counterparts. But more robots can also reduce the need for managers. What if more robots = a better quality of life. We always seem to go negative. What if we could work less, not more?

Engineers Demographic changing:women and racial and ethnic minorities increasingly have been choosing a wider range of degrees and occupations.Political representation needed. The number of women in S&E occupations or with S&E degrees has doubled over the past two decade. In 2017, women constituted 29% of workers in S&E occupations-up from 23% in 1993-relative to over half (52%) of the college-educated workforce overall. Among S&E degree holders, women represented 40% of employed individuals-up from 34% in 1993-with a highest degree in S&E Women make up over 34% of all scientists (engineers excluded), although representation varies across the broad fields. Women account for approximately 48% and 59% of life scientists and social scientists, respectively, and nearly 30% of physical scientists and computer and mathematical scientists (Figure 3-19; Table S3-12). Notably, while 59% of social scientists are female, occupations within social sciences varied widely: women accounted for 21% of economists and 69% of psychologists. About 16% of engineers are women, ranging from about 7% of mechanical engineers to 25% of chemical engineers (Figure 3-19; Table S3-12).