In case you missed it, it’s hard keeping up with all of the news and trends. We have you covered. Before you head out to lunch, here are 5 trending topics that will make you look like a smarty pants!
This just in: 211,000 jobs added in November
Friday morning the Labor Department announced that the economy added 211,000 jobs in November; the unemployment rate remains unchanged at 5%. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The report suggests employers have shrugged off recent stock-market turmoil and economic weakness abroad, including a slowdown in China. November’s solid hiring lifted average monthly job growth to 218,000 over the past three months, up slightly from the solid pace over the past year.”
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan plan to donate 99% of Facebook shares to charity
In the open letter read around the world, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he and his wife would donate 99% of their Facebook shares – worth $95 billion – to charity. The heartfelt letter written to their daughter Max discusses the hopes that their contributions will help her generation advance human potential and promote equality. The newly formed Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – which was formed as an LLC – is focused on “personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.” Since the announcement several media outlets have speculated on the formation of the unconventional philanthropy. Check out some of the coverage!
- Business Insider — ZUCKERBERG: Here’s why I’m not just giving my money to charity
- The Huffington Post –– Mark Zuckerberg Responds to Skeptics, Elaborates on LLC Plan
- The New York Times ‘Bits Blog’ –– Daily Report: Mark Zuckerberg Explains His Use of Limited Liability Company
- The Huffington Post –– How Zuckerberg’s LLC Could Be More Effective Than Charity
- Mashable –– Mark Zuckerberg’s massive $45 billion philanthropic effort raises concerns
Fewer companies are throwing holiday parties this year, but why?
This week SHRM released its annual survey on end-of-the-year office holiday parties. The results? Thirty percent of HR professionals surveyed said their company does not usually have year-end parties for all employees. The reason? One could speculate lack of interest, risk of over excessive drinking, or financial strains. Are office parties fab or drab? You weigh in the comments below!
Sizzling! The hottest jobs in 2016
Our friends over at CareerBuilder teamed up with Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. to dig through data on the trendiest jobs they expect to see in 2016. So if you’re looking to shift careers, or just want to see if your career of choice made the list, here are the top ten!
- Registered nurses: 199,082 more jobs posted than people hired
- App developers: 83,649 more jobs posted than people hired
- Marketing managers: 83,183 more jobs posted than people hired
- Sales managers: 52,808 more jobs posted than people hired
- Medical and health services managers: 51,833 more jobs posted than people hired
- Network administrators: 51,068 more jobs posted than people hired
- Industrial engineers: 47,279 more jobs posted than people hired
- Computer systems analysts: 46,852 more jobs posted than people hired
- Web developers: 45,790 more jobs posted than people hired
- Financial managers: 39,906 more jobs posted than people hired
For more insights on the data and trends, check out Jessica Stillman’s article on Inc.
What telecommuting looked like in 1973
In 2015, telecommuting is part of everyday business structure, but back in 1973 the idea of telecommuting was just a budding theory. The Atlantic published an article this week covering the founding document of telecommuting, which is a 1973 book called The Telecommunications – Transportation Tradeoff. According to the article, in the book, “lead author Jack Nilles, former NASA engineer, proposed telecommuting as an ‘alternative to transportation’—and an innovative answer to traffic, sprawl, and scarcity of nonrenewable resources.”
Research for the book was sparked largely in part by the energy crisis of the 1970s. With gridlocks and traffic jams becoming increasingly common, the authors looked to redesign how employees commuted. They urged companies located in big cities to open offices in less populated areas within the region, alleviating the commute for employees in that location.
While they couldn’t predict the Information Age, they did mention that new technologies “have the potential for acting as catalysts that could radically change the structure of American society in much the same way that the automobile acted as a catalyst on our way of life during the first half of this century.”
Check out the full article for more info!