Gen Zers might not want to be too quick to blame AI—or their lack of AI skills—for their employment struggles. According to new research, a general shortage of job openings is the primary reason.Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analyzed labor conditions for 18- to 24-year-olds between April 2023 and late 2025. The unemployment rate for the group rose by 2.9 percentage points due to overall job scarcity. By comparison, unemployment only increased by 1.1 percentage points as a result of employers shifting their demands toward workers already skilled in AI. “Since April 2023, hiring has slowed,…
Author: Staff Writer
As companies gear up for annual summer vacations, there’s a new workplace trend bubbling up that leaders need to know about: “PTO-maxxing.” It’s the strategy employees are using to take their calendar holidays and plan vacation days around them, stretching a paid holiday into a lengthy break and maximizing their total PTO—potentially turning 14 PTO days into 46 vacation days. As CEO of my company, I see it less as a problem and more as a symptom of workplaces that continue to judge employees negatively for taking much-needed rest. One recent study found that while leaders recognize that vacations boost…
As America marks its 250th anniversary, the country should be celebrating one of the greatest political experiments in human history. Instead, nearly one in five Americans say they do not plan to celebrate Independence Day, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The survey also found that two in five Americans doubt the United States will even endure another 250 years. Those numbers should concern everyone regardless of political affiliation because they point to something far deeper than disagreement over one election or one president. The Reuters report illustrates just how fractured the country has become. Some residents interviewed said they would…
Most AI “strategy” right now isn’t strategy at all. It’s a leadership response to panic. The suffocating, staring-at-the-ceiling-at-2am kind of panic that sets in when your board’s watching, your ROI dashboards haven’t budged, and your teams are fracturing under the weight of expectations. WRITER’s latest AI Adoption in the Enterprise report shows just how intense that pressure is: 94% of executives are facing board demands to do more with less. Over three-fourths (78%) are watching AI drive a massive wedge between IT and other lines of business, and 74% say it’s causing tension between executives and employees. Underneath all that…
France is enduring one of its most intense heat waves in decades, with temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F), schools forced to close, and public officials urging people to stay indoors. Yet what caught my attention was not the weather itself, but the response from the French government. Instead of asking why millions of French citizens remain without air conditioning, politicians are effectively telling people they should simply learn to live with the heat. After years of climate policies discouraging air conditioning, France now finds itself with only about 27% of homes and roughly 13% of apartments equipped with cooling systems, compared…
Public companies in America are required by law to publish one number: the ratio between what it pays its CEO and what it pays its median worker. The rule has been in force since 2017. The number sits in every proxy statement on the exchange. Most leaders cannot tell you their own. When you do look, the numbers are not subtle. The average across the S&P 500 was 285 to 1 in 2024. At the hundred lowest-paying large firms it averaged 632 to 1. At Starbucks it once reached 6,666 to 1. In 1965 the same ratio was about 21…
Finland has become another example of what happens when ideology overtakes economic reality. According to a recent report, Finland’s construction sector is suffering severe unemployment, with the Construction Trade Union estimating that 17.5% of construction workers are now unemployed. Many have already exhausted the maximum 400 days of earnings-related unemployment benefits and have dropped onto lower levels of support. Yet almost simultaneously, there are renewed discussions about bringing in workers from outside the European Union to fill jobs in the construction industry. The desperation in Finland’s labor market is becoming almost unbelievable. One comparison circulating widely captures just how severe…
The U.S. Social Security Administration said Wednesday it plans to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence this Fourth of July in a unique way. Millions of children born in the U.S. between July 2 and December 31, 2026, will receive first-of-their-kind, limited-edition cards, which are identical in function to a standard Social Security card and feature the official “Freedom 250” logo in black ink marking their birth during this auspicious year. The commemorative cards are being issued as part of the Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program, where parents can request a Social Security number for their newborn at hospitals, birthing…
Fireworks may not be the only dazzling thing you see this week. If you’re living in Alaska or any one of the U.S. states bordering Canada, you have the best chance of glimpsing the northern lights, or aurora borealis, starting tonight. According to a forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the natural light display may be visible over some northern and upper Midwest states on July 2 and 3. The NOAA predicts Thursday and Friday’s forecast to have a K-index, or KP, of 5, meaning the aurora will be visible and bright. The KP…
Inclusive and profitable economic ecosystems can be built, invested in, and scaled. That was my core message at the recent Fast Company Impact Council Annual Meeting, where I joined innovative business leaders to discuss what it will take to rebuild America’s competitive edge. I sat on the mainstage alongside Jean-Claude Brizard, president and CEO of Digital Promise, and Deirdre White, CEO of Pyxera Global. Prompted by Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company, we each addressed the limit of investing in binary thinking. Jean-Claude highlighted the pitfall of adopting sweeping prohibitions on technology use in schools without engaging educators skilled in…