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News from Worker Development, Industry, the Economy, Education, Science, and much more! |
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You’ve Cut the Training Budget, Then Cut Employees…Now What? |
By Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Layoffs are a traditional business solution to cutting costs in response to a softening of the market or unexpected erosion of the underlying economy. But anyone who has implemented a layoff or survived in its aftermath can tell you, layoffs often do not really make business sense; they seem like an act of desperation.
According to Elizabeth Flood, Associate Editor of CFO Dive, “Layoffs may cause organizational drag.” “Layoffs can erode shareholder returns, with expected savings from workforce reductions offset within three years by unforeseen consequences such as reduced employee morale, turnover and loss of customers,” according to recent research from Gartner.
“The first thing to recognize is that there is an immediate upfront cost to layoffs as a business will need to reorganize itself around a smaller group of employees and typically incur costly upfront severance payments,” Vaughan Archer, senior director, research and advisory in the Gartner Finance practice, said in a statement. Businesses will likely see an increase in both “costly contractor hiring and demands for increased compensation from remaining employees who are now under a greater burden,” he said.
Even if an organization avoids a “vicious cycle of employee turnover,” eventually, the business cycle will turn, leaving the organization scrambling for staff, the report said.”
Employers – especially their financing department - have been conditioned to believe that layoffs are the only option to rapidly turning conditions. This is an extension of the widespread neglect of worker development and worker management. Human resource management professionals have convinced themselves through a sort of “groupthink” that their only role is hiring, firing and management of benefits. This has been reenforced by college curriculum to become a "Human Resources Generalist" - very popular today as a way to lower the costs for HR management. This has further institutionalized the mistaken belief that the worker development process, starting at hiring, is “organic” and will take care of itself; once an employee is hired the HR department’s job is done (until an employee is returned to HR with the conclusion from deep analysis, “I don’t think this guy will work out”). Read More
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Have You Captured the Expertise of Your Critical Hourly and Salary Positions? |
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Starting in the late 1980’s, employers became increasingly concerned with succession planning; ensuring salary workers were being groomed to replace critical senior employees in the event of retirement or voluntary/involuntary separation. It was realized that the potential disruption - direct and the ripple effects - caused by an unplanned void in the leadership chain might be perceived as a threat to shareholder value. Shareholders, too, wanted assurances that maximizing a firm's performance was not tied to one or two invaluable people.
Compounding the concern was the realization that the workforce was aging at all levels, and that retirements were a certainty. Prior to the Crash of 2008, employer’s concern over this was amplified by anecdotal reports from other employers already experiencing the impact. A movement toward a remedy began to take shape, and not just for high-ranking salary positions, but technically critical salary positions and even hourly positions that with a loss of one or a few technical experts might disrupt operations and impair a firm’s viability.
For decades prior to the Crash of 2008, Proactive Technologies, Inc.® worked with a lot of employers by job/task analyzing their critical job classifications – initially hourly positions but a growing salary class of positions as well. This approach "captured the expertise” of the aging workers to use it to develop the tools which would allow the company to train nearly anyone with a sufficient core skill base, replicating experts as needed.
Then the Crash of 2008 happened and employers found themselves unexpectedly and unwillingly accelerating the loss of technical experts at all levels. For employers late to the game, there was no longer time to capture expertise; it had already left the building. We saw this phenomenon repeating itself with the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More
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Workforce Development Partnerships With Substance: My Experience |
by Randy Toscano, Jr., MSHRM, Executive Director of Human Resources, Paris Regional Medical Center
Partnerships between employers and local educational institutions/training providers are a tricky thing. Not every employer knows clearly what they need nor can they articulate the need, and not every educational institution can understand the need, or has products or services available or relevant enough to make a difference. If either of these realities are present, or worse both of them, it can make worker development partnerships difficult to disappointing.
Employers are closest to the work that they need performed by the worker, which is usually very different from the employer down the road. Yet employers rarely bother to document what makes up that work to articulate it in an understandable way to an educational institution or training provider. If you doubt that, take any of your job classifications and try to explain it in enough detail to train from it.
When in doubt, some employers pull out a sample written process and a few random specifications for compliance to focus the discussion. Seriously, I have been in meetings when an employer pulled out a 15 year old job description, which was a cut-and-paste of a 20 year old job description, and gave it to the community college and said, “we need workers trained for this.” Not surprisingly, they are disappointed and disillusioned when what the community college came up with seems irrelevant when shown to workers currently in the job classification. Read More
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The Worker Development Puzzle... For Many |
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
After many years of setting up and providing technical support for employer-based structured on the job training programs, I can say with confidence that most, if not all, employers have significant weaknesses in their worker development process. If pressed, I believe most employers are aware of it, but have become comfortable with the mistaken notion that “it is what it is.,” Some are unaware and frustrated at the lack of results when hiring new workers to maintain or build capacity; accountants show signs of concern when hiring adds labor costs and often results in lower production output. Others in management may be concerned with unsustainable poor output quality or an increase in product or service scrap or rework.
Hiring more workers is not always the answer to the apparent lack of capacity to take on new product lines and new projects. Many employers overlook the fact that there is a tremendous amount of untapped capacity among the existing workers who have never had a chance to be fully trained for the jobs for which they were hired. The reason: most companies have remained in the unstructured, informal, undocumented one-on-one task-based training mode - even though the tasks are often transforming and the skills required for jobs have continued to increase in complexity.
Understanding the “chemistry“ of worker development is key to maximizing the return on worker skills and efficiencies. If an enterprise is struggling to increase output given the current staffing levels, adding new workers to compensate may often yield even less output. The simple reason being that a new person with no demonstrated skills or relevant capabilities is paired with a higher paid subject matter expert who is to transfer their expertise in an unstructured, ad hoc and undocumented manner. For however long this unstructured experience takes, one person who used to be very productive is now training a worker who has little or no productivity, doubling the loss of capacity rather than increasing capacity to increase productive output. As production output falls, the subject matter expert trainer may feel compelled to take up the production slack – putting more distance between them and the trainee. During the probationary period, the new-hire doesn’t know what they don’t know and what is not being trained, so they may feel the only solution is to lay low.
This experience can take 2 to 3 times longer than necessary and the new worker may be trained to only 20% of the required tasks that management and expects. For however long this takes to transfer a full job set of expertise, two people (not one) are drawing pay and underproducing. Read More
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Proactive Technologies Turnkey Package Offers for Prospective and Returning Clients |
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. - Staff
The world has been through a lot in the last few decades. Employers finding themselves making decisions and changing their mind for the most unexpected reasons. Proactive Technologies, Inc.® wants to accommodate and support those decisions in the best way it knows how. This introduction for new and returning clients of its turnkey worker development package is one example.
New Clients:
If you are interested and would be willing to schedule a brief, 45-minute live online briefing on the PROTECH® approach to worker development and how PTI would make establishing and implementing a training system easy, efficient and with low-to-no investment for your organization, PTI is willing to schedule a free follow-up session to dig deeper into what it would look like considering a job classification of importance to your firm. Simply put: Read More
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Proactive Technologies, Inc. Worker Development News
Industry News
Financial News
Economics
International News
International Trade News
Education and Workforce Development News
Training and Organizational Development News
Quality News
Science
Cyber and IT News
Human Resources Management News
Environmental, Health & Safety News
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Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ -
capturing worker expertise to build and support job specific, task-based worker development programs (with metric-based solutions) since 1986.
Experience the power of the
Develop all the expert workers you need in a fraction of the time, with a fraction of the investment! Increased worker capacity, work quality and quantity, and worker compliance (ISO9001:2015, AS9100D, IATF16949, engineering and quality specifications, and safety requirements)."
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Proactive Technologies' Publications Archive
While at our website, check out past newsletters, articles and more. Helping employers to unlock worker value since 1986!
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Free - Live Online Presentation Schedule
If interested in attending one of the presentations below, click on the title, then select a date/time and press "Send." An online presentation invitation and link will be sent to you. On the date and time of the event, just click on link in email invitation and it will connect you to the presentation. No special equipment required.
Click here for descriptions of all of the available presentations. Click on a specific title for that specific description and schedule or to schedule a date and time that works for you.
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PTI Promo - (Recorded - Available Any Time): A Preview of an Upcoming Presentation (13 minutes)
FOR FORMER EMPLOYER CLIENTS:
FOR ANY EMPLOYER:
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If you would like more information or would like to discuss these presentations or anything else, click on the "View Live Upcoming Presentations/Calendar" button below and fill in the "Contact Us" with your request including information specifying an alternative date/time you prefer and how many will be attending. An invitation and link will be sent to you.
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Onsite and group presentations
are being scheduled for the following states, and a representative will be in your area, in the month of:
July, 2023
Proactive Technologies is currently scheduling stops in the following areas:
COLORADO
FLORIDA
ILLINOIS – Southern, I-80 Corridor
INDIANA
KANSAS – I-70 Corridor, Wichita
MINNESOTA - Southern
MISSOURI
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WISCONSIN - South
ONLINE VIDEO PRESENTATIONS -If you are interested in attending one of our regularly scheduled videoconferences, select from the schedule above or visit our website and select a videoconference from the calendar. An email invitation will be sent to you confirming your selection. This videoconference will be to your computer and no other equipment is required. This can be followed by an onsite presentation, at your request.
Contact Us to express your interest in an onsite or group presentation.
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis |
BEA News: Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate), and GDP by Industry, First Quarter 2023
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the “third” estimate. In the fourth quarter of 2022, real GDP increased 2.6 percent. The GDP estimate for the first quarter was revised up 0.7 percentage point from the “second” estimate, primarily reflecting upward revisions to exports and consumer spending.
Profits decreased 4.1 percent at a quarterly rate in the first quarter after decreasing 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
In the first quarter, the value added of private services-producing industries increased 2.6 percent, government increased 2.7 percent, and private goods-producing industries decreased 0.7 percent. Overall, 15 of 22 industry groups contributed to the first-quarter increase in real GDP. Read Report
Personal Income and Outlays, May 2023
Personal income increased $113.4 billion (0.5 percent) in May, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $96.5 billion (0.5 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $32.7 billion (0.2 percent).
Real DPI decreased 0.1 percent in May and Real PCE decreased 0.4 percent; goods decreased 1.6 percent and services increased 0.3 percent. The PCE price index increased 0.6 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Read Report
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census |
Advanced Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
New orders for manufactured durable goods in May, up three consecutive months, increased $4.9 billion or 1.7 percent to $288.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This followed a 1.2 percent April increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.0 percent. Transportation equipment, also up three consecutive months, led the increase, $3.9 billion or 3.9 percent to $102.6 billion. May 2023: +1.7° % Change; April 2023 (r): +1.2° % Change. Read Report
Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
New orders for manufactured goods in April, up four of the last five months, increased $2.6 billion or 0.4 percent to $577.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 0.6 percent March increase.
Shipments, down five of the last six months, decreased $2.5 billion or 0.4 percent to $572.3 billion. This followed a 0.6 percent March decrease. Unfilled orders, up four of the last five months, increased $10.4 billion or 0.8 percent to $1,291.3 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent March increase. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.71, up from 6.60 in March. Inventories, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, increased $4.2 billion or 0.5 percent to $856.7 billion. This followed a 0.8 percent March decrease. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.50, up from 1.48 in March. Read Report
Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders
New orders for manufactured goods in April, up four of the last five months, increased $2.6 billion or 0.4 percent to $577.5 billion. April 2023: +0.4° % Change; March 2023 (r): +0.6° % Change. Read Report
Manufacturing and Trade Inventory and Sales
Sales
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,821.6 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.2 percent)* from March 2023, but was down 1.3 percent (±0.3 percent) from April 2022.
Inventories
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,543.8 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.1 percent) from March 2023 and were up 5.2 percent (±0.4 percent) from April 2022.
Inventories/Sales Ratio
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.40. The April 2022 ratio was 1.31. Read Report
Household Pulse Survey
What is the Household Pulse Survey?
The U.S. Census Bureau, in collaboration with multiple federal agencies, is in a unique position to produce data on the social and economic effects of coronavirus on American households. The Household Pulse Survey is designed to deploy quickly and efficiently, collecting data to measure household experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. Data will be disseminated in near real-time to inform federal and state response and recovery planning. Read Data
Small Business Pulse Survey
The Small Business Pulse Survey (Business Pulse) measures the effect of changing business conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic on our nation's small businesses. Business Pulse complements existing U.S. Census Bureau data collections by providing high-frequency, detailed information on the challenges small businesses are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic as well as their participation in federal programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program. Read Report
Monthly State Retail Sales
The Monthly State Retail Sales (MSRS) is the Census Bureau's new experimental data product featuring modeled state-level retail sales. This is a blended data product using Monthly Retail Trade Survey data, administrative data, and third-party data. Year-over-year percent changes are available for Total Retail Sales excluding Nonstore Retailers as well as 11 retail North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) retail subsectors. These data are provided by state and NAICS codes beginning with January 2019. The Census Bureau plans to continue to improve the methodology to be able to publish more data in the future. Access Tables
Economic Indicators
A composite of many of the requested domestic facts and figures. Visit Table
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U. S. Department of Labor Statistics |
Consumer Price Index
In May, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 4.0 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent in May (SA); up 5.3 percent over the year (NSA). Read Report
Producer Price Index
The Producer Price Index for final demand declined 0.3 percent in May. Prices for final demand goods fell 1.6 percent, and the index for final demand services increased 0.2 percent. Prices for final demand moved up 1.1 percent for the 12 months ended in May. Read Report
Job Openings and Labor Turnover
Job openings rates increased in 13 states and decreased in 2 states on the last business day of April, the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires rates decreased in 4 states and increased in 3 states. Total separations rates decreased in 9 states and increased in 5 states. Nationally, the job openings, hires, and total separations rates showed little or no change in April.
This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, total separations, quits, and layoffs and discharges for the total nonfarm sector and for all states and the District of Columbia. Read Report
Unemployment Rate for States
Unemployment Rates for States, Seasonally Adjusted. Read Report
Civilian Labor Participation Rate
For a 20 year chart of the U.S. Civilian Labor Participation Rate. Read Report
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U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index |
University of Buffalo - School of Management
The U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI) assesses job quality in the United States by measuring desirable higher-wage/higher-hour jobs versus lower-wage/lower-hour jobs. The JQI results also may serve as a proxy for the overall health of the U.S. jobs market, since the index enables month-by-month tracking of the direction and degree of change in high-to-low job composition.
By tracking this information, policymakers and financial market participants can be more fully informed of past developments, current trends, and likely future developments in the absence of policy intervention. Economists and international organizations have in recent years developed other, complementary conceptions of job quality such as those addressing the emotional satisfaction employees derive from their jobs.
For the purposes of this JQI, “job quality” means the weekly dollar-income a job generates for an employee. Payment, after all, is a primary reason why people work: the income generated by a job being necessary to maintain a standard of living, to provide for the essentials of life and, hopefully, to save for retirement, among other things. Read Report
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Job Quality Index Rises, Goods-Producing Job Growth Continues to Slow |
Coalition for a Prosperous America
WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today announced that the U.S. Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI) for April was 84.46, up 0.25% from March. A month ago, it looked like the job market was beginning to plateau, but upward revisions to March’s data means the JQI was 0.48 higher than reported. In other words, what looked like a labor market beginning to stall out a month ago was instead continued growth of high-quality jobs relative to low-quality jobs in the economy.
The average weekly wage for production and nonsupervisory workers in April was $969.09, up 0.25%. Wage growth over the past year of 4.1% remains below the rate of inflation of 4.9%, meaning that consumers’ purchasing power continues to erode. Wage growth was stronger than average among high-quality jobs which saw an increase of 0.60%, or $7.87 in weekly wages. Recent months showed little wage growth but the most recent data shows wage growth resuming, although not as strong as a year ago. Read Article
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Metal Shortage Could Put the Brakes on Electrification |
Vehicle Service Pros
Critical metal resources will deplete quickly if we are not careful.
As more and more electric cars are travelling on the roads of Europe, this is leading to an increase in the use of the critical metals required for components such as electric motors and electronics. With the current raw material production levels there will not be enough of these metals in future – not even if recycling increases. This is revealed by the findings of a major survey led by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, on behalf of the European Commission.
Electrification and digitalization are leading to a steady increase in the need for critical metals in the EU’s vehicle fleet. Moreover, only a small proportion of the metals are currently recycled from end-of-life vehicles. The metals that are highly sought after, such as dysprosium, neodymium, manganese and niobium, are of great economic importance to the EU, while their supply is limited and it takes time to scale up raw material production. Our increasing dependence on them is therefore problematic for several reasons. Read Article
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Finland-Based ADMARES Plans Waycross, Georgia, U.S. Manufacturing Plant |
Area Development - News Desk
Finland-based ADMARES, which specializes in industrialized manufacturing of buildings and homes, plans to establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Waycross, Georgia. The $750 million project is expected to create 1,400 jobs in Ware County.
The company will construct a 2.5-million-square-foot build-to-suit facility located along Highway 23 which will specialize in producing buildings for the housing sector. Operations are scheduled for late 2025. Read Article
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Many AI early Adopters Struggle for Success: Report |
CFO Dive - Alexei Alexis, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- A majority of global companies have invested in artificial intelligence technology to support innovation, but less than half are satisfied with the results, according to a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group.
- Successful AI investments tend to have a clearly articulated purpose, among other advantages, according to the annual innovation study by BCG, a global management consulting firm.
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“Obviously, you can end up doing a lot of activities that are interesting but not really creating value,” Michael Ringel, BCG managing director and senior partner, said in an interview. Read Article
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‘We Transform While We Perform’: BMW Spartanburg Revs Up for the Shift to Electric |
IndustryWeek - Laura Putre
The president of BMW Manufacturing talks about the plant's $1.7 billion expansion and adding EVs to the assembly line.
More than 30 years ago, the once-proud textile hub of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was selected as the site for BMW’s new U.S. assembly plant. This was a big announcement back in 1992 ($600 million investment, 2,000 new jobs), but it’s unclear anyone back then had an idea just how big the plant would become and how much of an economic impact it would have.
Now BMW’s largest plant worldwide, the Spartanburg plant (aka BMW Manufacturing Co. LLC) has been expanded six times. Its 11,000 workers together make up 4.8% of all manufacturing jobs in the state, and nearly 90% of the plant’s supply base is local. More than 1,500 new BMWs a day roll out of the site, six days a week, with a large percentage of those “Bimmers” headed three hours southeast to the Port of Charleston for export to Europe and Asia. Read Article
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Industrial Leaders See Tailwinds: Manufacturers Show Optimism |
IndustryWeek - Geert De Lombaerde
A new survey shows manufacturers see a path through the economic doldrums and remain more upbeat than other leaders about volatility and business conditions in 2025.
Speaking after the Cleveland-based industrial products conglomerate reported its first-quarter profits, CEO Jennifer Parmentier said the company’s new multi-year goal of organic growth between 4% and 6% is within reach in part because of the manufacturing investment wave driven by electric vehicle and battery projects as well as the longer-term dynamics of electrification and aerospace growth.
“We're there when they're prepping the land, we're there when they're building the factory and we're there when they're putting all the equipment in the factory,” Parmentier told analysts about the headline-grabbing projects planned or already underway. “Between mega-capex projects and secular trends, it's the reason we feel so confident about those targets in the future.” Read Article
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70% of Industry 4.0 Pilots Fail. A New Center Hopes to Change That. |
IndustryWeek - Natalie Chmiko, Cynthia Hutchison
The World Economic Forum chose Michigan for its US Center for Advanced Manufacturing.
The fourth industrial revolution is reshaping the manufacturing industry, bringing new opportunities and challenges for businesses to navigate.
But for Industry 4.0 technologies to be meaningful in manufacturing, businesses must work across the value chain to drive adoption and achieve faster, more sustainable change. That is not just a personal opinion but a determination of the World Economic Forum, one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject. Read Article
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General Motors-Samsung SDI Plan St. Joseph County, Indiana, EV Battery Plant |
Area Development - News Desk
A joint venture between General Motors and Korea-based Samsung SDI plans to establish an EV battery cell plant in St. Joseph County, Indiana. The $3 billion project is expected to create 1,700 jobs.
The new plant will be located just east of New Carlisle at Larrison Boulevard and Indiana 2 and will house production lines to build nickel-rich prismatic and cylindrical cells. The facility will have more than 30 GWh of capacity. Production is scheduled for 2026. Read Article
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Six Actions CEOs Should Never Take with Their Boards of Directors |
IndustryWeek - Steven L. Blue
It's a tough balancing act, but there are clear lines that everyone should respect.
Boards have a difficult job. On one hand, they have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders for oversight. On the other hand, it is not their job to run the company. That falls to the CEO. Boards must walk a tightrope between the two.
Some things a board has a legitimate right to know and be a part of. However, the board has no right or authority to involve itself in most company affairs.
It is critical the board and CEO are clear on what the board should and should not be involved in.
As a CEO, you should facilitate the board’s balancing act with open and transparent communication—and steer clear of these six actions.
1. Letting your board take control of any operating business decision. Read Article
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Federal Policies to Address Persistent Generic Drug Shortages |
Brookings Institution - Marta E. Wosińska, Visiting Fellow - Economic Studies, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy; Richard G. Frank, Director - Economic Studies, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
ISSUE OVERVIEW
Generic sterile injectable or GSI drugs are the staple of hospital care, so shortages of these drugs can affect patients in emergency rooms, ICUs, cancer clinics, and outpatient elective surgery departments. Shortages of GSI drugs can have substantial adverse impacts through treatment delays, the use of inferior alternatives, and an increased risk of medication errors.
Market dynamics are at the heart of persistent GSI shortages. Hospitals primarily consider the price of competing GSI products because they can neither observe drug quality directly nor do they carry the full burden of patient harm resulting from shortages. Price pressures, coupled with FDA’s inability to enforce strictly manufacturing quality standards, reduce a manufacturer’s commitment to good manufacturing practices. When manufacturing quality problems are uncovered, often after FDA inspections, recalls and production stoppages can lead to shortages. Read Article
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GM to Invest $920 Million to Expand Duramax Diesel Plant in Ohio |
IndustryWeek - Staff
“This investment furthers our commitment to HD truck market dominance with the Duramax power under the hood that customers love so much,” said Mike Trevorrow, vice president, North America Manufacturing.
GM plans to expand production of future internal combustion engine (ICE) heavy-duty truck powertrain products with a $920 million investment in its Duramax (DMAX) Brookville (Ohio) facility.
The 1.1 million-square-foot expansion will more than quadruple the current size of the plant. The investment will also add new technology and equipment. Read Article
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Classes alone will not close the "skills gap," but structured on-the-job training can...every time! |
Under-capacity of workers is an enormous source of untapped value and unrealized return on worker investment. In addition, standardizing expert task performance -between workers and shifts - can add to worker ROI through lower scrap and rework.
- Increased worker capacity, productivity, work quantity, work quality and compliance (specifications, ISO/AS/IATF programs and safety mandates);
- Decreased internal costs of training
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Higher return on worker investment! You would be surprised how small of an investment is needed to unlock enormous returns.
If budgets are tight, Proactive Technologies, Inc. can be an extension to your training department, with our technical implementation support - included with every project!
There's nothing to lose by taking a minute to contact us to learn more. Copyright © 2019-23 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™
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If your institution is interested in becoming a Proactive Technologies, Inc. project partner, contact a representative for more information. |
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ChatGPT Aces CPA Exam After Prior Version Flunked |
CFO Dive - Jim Tyson, Senior Reporter
ChatGPT-3.5 took the CPA exam and got an “F.” The newest version of the AI learned from the failure, however, and nailed the test, researchers said.
The artificial intelligence known as ChatGPT, after failing the CPA exam and similar accounting certifications, can now take off the dunce cap.
ChatGPT-4 recently passed the exams with an average score of 85.1%, outsmarting its earlier version, ChatGPT-3.5, which flunked with a 53.1% average, according to a recently released study by researchers at four universities.
The newest version of the generative AI, created by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, nailed the other exams that stumped its precursor, including tests for the title as Certified Management Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor and enrolled agent, the researchers found. Read Article
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Don’t Store Cash in Venmo and PayPal, US Regulator Warns |
CNN - Chris Isidore
Payment apps like PayPal and Venmo might be convenient, but they’re not banks — and a federal financial services watchdog is worried that too many consumers are treating them as such.
Some consumers are using services like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Apple Pay for direct deposit of paychecks, or simply storing lots of cash in them. But the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants people to know they don’t have the same protections as a bank or credit union.
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra warned in a Thursday statement that payment services like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Apple Pay “are increasingly used as substitutes for a traditional bank or credit union account but lack the same protections to ensure that funds are safe.” Read Article and See Video
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The Fed’s Man-made Housing Market Recession Hit So Hard That 4 Real Estate Titans Just Lost Their Fortune 500 Status |
Fortune Magazine – Lance Lambert
Not only did rock-bottom interest rates during the pandemic spur a refinancing bonanza, but with the help of remote work and tight inventory, they also heated up the housing market in a way that hadn’t been seen since the bubble. Borrowers simply couldn’t pass up on 30-year fixed mortgages with a rate of 3%—or in some cases 2%. Few companies, of course, benefited more from that housing boom than Rocket Companies, which during the roughest part of the lockdowns did $5 billion in sales in the second quarter of 2020 compared to $1.6 billion in the same quarter in 2019. Read Article
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Canadian Regulators Suspend Ex-blockchain CEO, CFO |
CFO Dive - Maura Webber Sadovi, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
- The British Columbia Securities Commission suspended the former CEO and CEO of a Vancouver, Canada-based company now being dissolved called BLOK from participating in the investment market, according to a release Monday.
- Robert Earle Dawson, the ex-CEO of BLOK Technologies, and David Malcolm Alexander, the ex-CFO, agreed to the suspension, which follows after the pair authorized a June 2018 news release that stated BLOK had raised $5.4 million which would be used for the company’s blockchain projects. However, they did not disclose that they would only use $947,321 of the money to do so, as they already spent or owed $4.5 million in consulting fees, according to the BCSC release.
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“Both individuals must resign any position they hold as a director or officer of an issuer or registrant, and are temporarily prohibited from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any reporting issuer or registrant, becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, and advising or otherwise acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with the securities or derivatives market,” the release states. Read Article
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The Next ‘Black Swan’ Is Afoot: Can You Recognize the Early Signs of Business Weakness? |
IndustryWeek - Steven L. Blue
Here are four warning signs to watch out for.
If you gave a sigh of relief because your business survived the pandemic, think again. The next disruptive event is coming. It may not be a health pandemic, but if you think of the pandemic as a metaphor for a black swan event, you are on the right track.
A black swan event is an extremely negative event that is impossible to predict or plan for. By its very nature, it is unexpected and unknowable. Read Article
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SEC Dues Coinbase as Federal Crackdown on Crypto Continues |
CFO Dive - Gabrielle Saulsbery, Reporter
- Coinbase was accused Tuesday of operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency. The SEC also took aim at its staking-as-a-service program.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission charged cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase with operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency Tuesday, and also charged Coinbase for failing to register the offer and sale of its staking-as-a-service program.
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The charges hardly come as a surprise following Coinbase’s receival of a Wells notice, a formal notice that the SEC is planning to bring enforcement actions against an entity, in April. Read Article
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A Perfectly Timed Trade 24 Minutes Before the SEC's Big Crypto Crackdown Likely Made an Investor Millions |
Business Insider - Joe Ciolli
This week's crypto-industry crackdown by the SEC has sent the price of Coinbase stock falling.
Just 24 minutes before the SEC announced its lawsuit against Binance, a trader made a big options trade betting on a stock decline, Bloomberg found.
Depending on if and when the trader closed their position, the wager could've paid out up to $2.6 million. Read Article
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Institutional Firms are Pulling Back From the U.S. Housing Market—Just Look at Starwood's Decision to Shop 2,000 Single-family Rentals |
Fortune Magazine
Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht doesn’t hold back on his Federal Reserve criticism: On multiple occasions he’s told CNBC anchors that the central bank’s aggressive interest rate hikes could soon spur a deep recession.
It’s easy to see why Sternlicht is so openly critical of the Fed: Starwood primarily invests in real estate, where the Fed’s interest rate hikes have already caused a great deal of economic pain.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Starwood Real Estate Income Trust plans to shop more than 2,000 single-family rentals. Starwood—which declined Fortune’s interview request—hasn’t publicly explained its motive for pulling back from the residential housing market, where its REIT owns over 3,200 single-family homes. That said, it’s clear that the decision to shop these 2,000 homes comes as Starwood faces an uptick in redemption requests and endures pain in the commercial real estate sector. Read Article
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89% of Executives Want Change On Their Board: Weekly Stat |
CFO.com - Adam Zaki
Data shows executives are underwhelmed by their board's performance and participation in their company's decision-making.
As the history of business has shown, the relationship between a company’s executives and board members can be crucial, especially in instances of poor company performance or when questions of the legality or morality of company decisions come under scrutiny. Executives, especially CFOs, can have their leadership challenged by board members. They must learn to operate within the confines of the board and work with directors if they wish to be effective.
But a new survey from PwC and the Conference Board shows executives are lacking confidence in some directors and believe overall their board could be more engaged. Read Article
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Large Corporations Buying Up Primary Care Practices at Rapid Pace |
Scripps News Service - Dan Grossman
Some worry the consolidation will shift the focus from patient care to corporate profits.
Since the pandemic, primary care physicians have been leaving the industry in droves.
According to Definitive Healthcare, in 2021, 117,000 physicians left the workforce, followed by nurse practitioners, with 53,295 departures, and physician assistants, with 22,704.
The exodus has led more private corporations and hospital systems to buy the practices of the remaining doctors, promising more money for their grueling work. Read Article
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A 3-hour Phone Call That Brought Her to Tears: Imposter Scams Cost Americans Billions |
NPR - Dara Kerr
It was a Monday in the middle of the day when Valeria Haedo got a phone call from a number she didn't recognize. She doesn't normally pick those up, but she did that day. The caller said his name was Officer Robert Daniels from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and he had a warrant for her arrest.
He told Haedo she could verify him by Googling his name and department. She did, and it checked out. But what Haedo didn't realize in that moment is she'd just been targeted in an intricate scam. She was kept on the phone for more than three hours and eventually brought to tears. Read and Hear Article
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HCA Hospitals Accused of Pushing Patients Toward Hospice |
NBC News – Cynthia McFadden
At some HCA hospitals, staff are pressed to get patients into hospice with the goal of improving hospital performance metrics, according to six nurses and 27 doctors. NBC News’ Cynthia McFadden shares one patient’s story where doctors urged her mother to transfer her to end-of-life care but the patient ended up recovering. See Video
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Amazingly, the U.S. Job Market Continues to Roar. Here Are the 5 Things to Know |
NPR – Scott Horsley
It’s still a good time to be looking for a job.
The latest employment report from the Labor Department showed the country’s job market remained red hot, with 339,000 jobs added in May.
It was a number that blew past expectations, considering the headwinds facing the economy including higher interest rates. Analysts had forecast around 190,000 jobs would be added. Read and Listen to Article
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Chimp Empire and the Economics of Chimpanzees |
NPR Planet Money – Greg Rosalsky
Watching Netflix’s new docuseries Chimp Empire is a trip. It feels like being dropped in the middle of the Ugandan forest and suddenly becoming roommates with chimpanzees. It’s incredibly immersive. You get to know the chimps as individuals, each with their own personalities and goals. And you get a glimpse of the inner workings of chimp society, complete with its fluid hierarchies and deadly power struggles.
Chimp Empire was filmed over a year in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. The filmmakers embedded themselves with the Ngogo chimpanzees, the largest known chimpanzee society. While these chimps once lived in relative peace and harmony, they now have split into two warring clans, which scientists refer to as the Central and Western factions. Read Article
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Markups, Profit Shares, and Cost-Push-Profit-Led Inflation |
Institute for New Economic Thinking — Michalis Nikiforos and Simon Grothe
To what extent is profit-led inflation compatible with what we know about the price-setting behavior of firms and income distribution?
There is a growing consensus that the price increases of the last three years can be attributed mostly to profits while the change in nominal wages has been relatively small. As a result, the share of profits in national income has increased. This type of inflation has been given different names such as profit-led inflation or seller’s inflation (e.g., in this recent well-known piece by Isabella Weber and Evan Wasner).
An interesting question that follows is to what extent this situation (inflation stemming from profits and increases in the profit share) is compatible with what we know about the price-setting behavior of firms and income distribution. We discuss this question with reference to a recent piece by Marc Lavoie which is critical of the profit-led inflation story. Lavoie bases his criticism on two points. Read Article
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The World Economy Is Changing—the People Know, But Their Leaders Don’t |
Counterpunch.org – Richard D. Wolff
The year 2020 marked parity between the total GDP of the G7 (the U.S. plus allies) and the total GDP of the BRICS group (China plus allies). Since then, the BRICS economies grew faster than the G7 economies. Now a third of total world output comes from the BRICS countries while the G7 accounts for below 30 percent. Beyond the obvious symbolism, this difference entails real political, cultural, and economic consequences. Bringing Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to Hiroshima to address the G7 recently failed to distract the G7’s attention from the huge global issue: what is growing in the world economy vs. what is declining.
The evident failure of the economic sanctions war against Russia offers yet more evidence of the relative strength of the BRICS alliance. That alliance now can and does offer nations alternatives to accommodating the demands and pressures of the once-hegemonic G7. The latter’s efforts to isolate Russia seem to have boomeranged and exposed instead the relative isolation of the G7. Even France’s Macron wondered out loud whether France might be betting on the wrong horse in that G7 vs. BRICS economic race just under the surface of the Ukraine war. Perhaps earlier, less-developed precursors of that race influenced failed U.S. land wars in Asia from Korea through Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq. Read Article
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Is the U.S. Economy Really a Tale of Two Job Markets? |
NPR — Market Place, Sabri Ben-Achour and Alex Schroeder
The unemployment rate is at a half-century low, yet many workers are unable to escape poorly paid, precarious jobs. One reason could be that the U.S. job market has evolved into two distinct labor markets—a dual labor market—and workers in each section experience very different economies.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. is still very low at 3.7% — it’s ranged between 3.4% and 3.7% for more than a year now. And the U.S. economy has added jobs for 29 consecutive months. In other words, companies are still hungry to hire and struggling to get all the workers they need.
And yet, at the same time, many workers are unable to escape poorly paid, precarious jobs. One theory about why that might be the case is that the U.S. job market has actually evolved into two job markets. In other words: a dual labor market. And in those different labor markets, workers experience different economies. Read and Hear Article
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‘I Have Not Seen One Cent’: Billions Stolen in Wage Theft from US Workers |
The Guardian - Michael Sainato
Employees across the country are not getting paid what they are owed, and critics say government is toothless to help.
Jose Martinez worked for a construction contractor in New York City for six months in 2019 when he and his co-workers suddenly stopped getting paid.
Martinez said the contractor, Star Builders, initially blamed the owners of the building for not dispersing money for the project.
Martinez said he and his colleagues were eventually paid late, but the delays kept happening. The contractor came up with more excuses for the lack of payment. Eventually Martinez and several of his co-workers left after not getting paid for four weeks of work. Read Article
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What Personal Financial Stress Can Do to the Economy |
NPR Planet Money - Paddy Hirsch
Americans are pretty stressed out. In the American Psychological Association's 2022 Stress in America Survey, respondents cited violence and crime, and the current political and racial climate as significant sources of stress. The biggest stressor of all, however, was economic: 83 percent of people said they were stressed out by inflation.
Which means that we're only going to be more stressed in the coming year. Why? Because we're almost certainly headed into a recession. The Conference Board, a non-profit business research group, puts the likelihood at 99 percent in the next 12 months. The National Bureau of Economic Research's models say there's a 67 percent possibility. Bankrate's experts say there's a 64 percent chance. The Wall Street Journal puts it at 61 percent. Clearly the numbers are all over the place. But however you slice the data, whether we go in sooner or later, hard or soft, it does look as though we're going in.
Which means a lot more stress, for a lot more people. And stress is bad news for the economy. More than a quarter of adults told the APA that when they are stressed, they cannot bring themselves to do anything. At all. That kind of paralysis, at home, at work, and when handling one's finances, has profound implications for all of us. Read Article
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Institute for New Economic Thinking
How do governments accumulate such high levels of debt without constant major crises? Who is paying the price?
INTERVIEW FEATURING: Ricardo Reis, Arthur Williams Phillips Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Markus K. Brunnermeier Advisory Board, Edwards S. Sanford Professor, Princeton University
In this interview Ricardo Reis challenges conventional thinking on debt sustainability and raises important considerations for the future. He explains that governments can sell debt at lower interest rates, which provides a “debt revenue” and allows them to borrow large amounts without dire consequences. However, he also highlights potential risks for future debt sustainability, such as high inflation. Reis explores the trade-offs in financial regulation and the impact on the demand for government bonds.
With alarming frequency, modern economies go through macro-financial crashes that arise from the financial sector and spread to the broader economy, inflicting deep and prolonged recessions. A Crash Course on Crises brings together the latest cutting-edge economic research to identify the seeds of these crashes, reveal their triggers and consequences, and explain what policymakers can do about them. See Video Interview
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Would You Live Next to Co-workers for the Right Price? This Company is Betting Yes |
NPR Morning Edition – Jennifer Ludden, Marisa Peñaloza
Tommie Jones visits the new home she’s buying from her employer, Cook Medical. It will be the first time the 47-year-old quality control inspector has a place of her own.
Tommie Jones loves her job as a quality control inspector for Cook Medical in rural Spencer, Indiana. But she hasn’t been able to find a place she can afford on her own, so at age 47, she’s squeezed in with her sister’s family.
When Cook announced a year ago that it would build hundreds of homes to sell to employees at below-market prices, Jones was among the first to sign up. Read and Hear Article
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“Crypto is a Fraud on the Public”: Financial Watchdog Explains Ties Between Crypto and the Banking Crisis |
Institute for New Economic Thinking – Lynn Parramore
Dennis Kelleher, co-founder of Washington DC-based financial watchdog Better Markets, explains how Main Street gets hurt by the ongoing banking turmoil and why crypto is the last place anybody should be running to for safety.
Dennis Kelleher, who heads the financial watchdog group Better Markets, has long been pushing for tighter Wall Street regulation. In the following conversation with the Institute for New Economic Thinking, he explains why the reckless activities of under-regulated and under-supervised big banks unfairly harm the smaller banks Main Street depends on – leaving regular people to pay the price. A vocal crypto skeptic, Kelleher, whose organization was offered a million-dollar bribe by FTX to help it escape regulatory oversight, warns that the industry has “no legitimate or socially useful purpose” and that people who believe its cheerleaders are at great risk from a “fundamentally predatory business model.” Read Article
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Five Stories of Lives Upended After Dealing With the “We Buy Ugly Houses” Company |
ProPublica – Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon
ProPublica found that HomeVestors franchises often target the homes of people in vulnerable or desperate situations. These are the stories of five people who found themselves in unwanted deals with a
HomeVestors of America, the company behind the “We Buy Ugly Houses” ads, says it’s in the business of helping people.
Sometimes, the quick cash its franchises provide in exchange for a property at vastly below market value does help the owner.
But a ProPublica investigation found the types of houses targeted by HomeVestors franchises often belong to people in vulnerable situations who sign away what for most Americans is their largest asset. To make matters worse, aggressive legal tactics employed by HomeVestors franchises can trap homeowners in a deal or cost them thousands of dollars to settle. Read Article
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Tales From the Transcript: Demand Hopes, Inflation Fades |
IndustryWeek – Geert De Lombaerde
Executives’ comments following Q1 earnings suggest the industrial economy is ready to strengthen in the coming quarters.
Richard Tobin was inspired to invoke a 1980s hard-rock mainstay to describe how Dover Corp. is preparing for the rest of 2023.
“The Sammy Hagar song about one foot on the gas and one on the brake, that’s the way we’re trying to run it here—meaning that there’s a lot of macro uncertainty in the marketplace,” the president and CEO of the $8 billion manufacturer of equipment and parts said on Dover’s first-quarter earnings conference call. “We think that we’ve got some tailwinds but we can’t just be blind [and] not [watch] our own balance sheet.” Read Article
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How This Regional Bank Mortgage Lender Crisis is Different |
Institute for New Economic Thinking - Nicholas Mangee
Every banking crisis has its own overarching narratives and coincidental streams of various sub-narratives that course through the marketplace day to day.
A new field of economics explores the role of narratives in driving financial markets and the broader economy. Many studies in narrative economics utilize textual news analytics to gauge the importance and spread of various topics and terms reported in the popular press and searched for on the internet. The idea is that stories of human interest, if visceral and viral enough, permeate investor forecasts and distort stock price movements away from intrinsic, or fundamental, values. Consequently, narratives under these accounts are presumed to be behavioral. Put differently, narratives are synonymous with irrationality. Treating story threads as non-fundamental factors, however, fails to recognize the natural and necessary role they play in making sense of uncertainty-laden environments, such as the recent regional banking crisis.
However, not all accounts of narrative dynamics in financial markets presume irrationality. Read Article
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Mexico, Latin America, South America and the Caribbean |
Ecuador Completes World’s Largest Debt-for-Nature Conversion with IDB and DFC Support
InterAmerican Development Bank
For the first time, a multilateral institution combines the provision of guarantees with political-risk insurance to improve sustainability.
Operation supports the creation of the Reserva Marina Hermandad in the Galápagos Islands area.
With support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Ecuador completed a debt conversion that will allow the country to allocate resources for long-term marine conservation in the Galápagos Islands to promote greater sustainability and improve the quality of life of Ecuadorians.
To date, this is the largest debt-for-nature conversion completed in the world. The operation consists of an $85 million IDB guarantee and an $656 million DFC political-risk insurance to Ecuador to purchase existing public debt at better terms. This debt purchase with cheaper financing will generate lifetime savings of more than $1.126 billion. Besides providing the guarantee, the IDB has supported institutional strengthening policies for environmental and public-debt management in the country. Read Release
Brazil’s Indigenous People Protest as Lawmakers Vote to Limit Their Land Rights
NPR – Carrie Kahn
RIO DE JANEIRO — Lawmakers in Brazil approved a proposal that opponents argue will gut Indigenous land rights and environmental protection.
The fast-track approval highlights the strength of Brazil’s powerful agriculture industry. Indigenous leaders vow more protests.
The law sailed through Brazil’s lower house of Congress late Tuesday and is expected to pass the Senate. Among its provisions, it will limit the creation of new Indigenous reserves to lands that were only occupied by native people in 1988. That’s the promulgation date of Brazil’s latest constitution. Read Article
Readout of Vice President Harris’s Meeting with Prime Minister Davis of The Bahamas
U.S. White House – Statements and Releases
Vice President Kamala Harris today met with Prime Minister Philip Davis of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in Nassau, in advance of the U.S.-Caribbean Leaders Meeting, which the Vice President co-hosted with Prime Minister Davis, current chair of the Caribbean Community. The Vice President welcomed the upcoming celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the independence of The Bahamas and of diplomatic relations between the United States and The Bahamas. The Vice President and Prime Minister Davis discussed our shared efforts to address the climate crisis, including through the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030, which the Vice President launched in June 2022 at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. They discussed accelerating the transition to clean energy, strengthening climate resilience and disaster preparedness. Read Release
Trade Trends Estimates Latin America and the Caribbean - 2023 Edition Q1 Update
InterAmerican Development Bank – AUTHOR Giordano, Paolo; Michalczewsky, Kathia
This report provides estimates of Latin America and the Caribbeans international trade flows for 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. The data in it was prepared by the Integration and Trade Sector (INT) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in partnership with its Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL). Download Report
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Canada, Europe and Great Britain |
Recession in Germany: What Does That Mean?
DeutscheWelle – Klaus Ulrich
May 25, 2023Germany has entered a technical recession with data showing that the economy contracted in the first quarter of 2023. What constitutes a downturn and what does that entail?
Germany’s economy is facing extreme testing times. First, the coronavirus pandemic took a toll, and now the impact of the war in Ukraine is pushing the economy to the brink.
Inflation, rising energy prices and supply bottlenecks all add up to a perfect storm for the economy — which, according to economists’ theories, goes up and down in waves. A distinction is usually made between four phases:
- Upswing, also called expansion or prosperity
- Boom
- Recession
- Depression
A recession marks a downturn when, for example, production capacities are no longer being utilized because exports are falling and demand for goods and services is shrinking at home. Read Article
Mount Etna: Italian Volcano Erupts Spewing Ash Onto Catania
BBC
Italy’s largest volcano Mount Etna erupted on Sunday spewing ash onto Catania, the largest city in eastern Sicily.
Sicily is an island which is part of Italy, and is also close to the island of Malta.
Many parts of Catania have been covered in a layer of dark gritty dust, with images showing cars covered. Read Article
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China's Quantum Leap — Made in Germany
DeutscheWelle - Sandra Petersmann, Esther Felden
Germany's oldest university hosts many scientists conducting groundbreaking work. Little did they know how they would become entangled in China's quantum military strategy. A DW investigation with CORRECTIV.
The podium is decorated with pink and white plastic flowers. The Chinese man behind it speaks at length about a laser radar system for detecting stealth aircraft. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, his audience joins him virtually for the talk.
A young participant is curious — why is quantum research so important for Xinjiang? The Xinjiang Association of Science and Technology has organized the online session to showcase groundbreaking achievements in Chinese quantum research. Read Article
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Asia, India and Australia |
India Train Crash: More Than 260 Dead After Odisha Accident
BBC News - Zoya Mateen in Delhi & Adam Durbin in London
At least 261 people have been killed and 1,000 are injured in a crash involving three trains in India’s eastern Odisha state.
One passenger train derailed on to the adjacent track and was struck by an incoming train on Friday, also hitting a nearby stationary freight train.
A massive recovery operation is under way, after hundreds of emergency workers searched the wreckage.
The cause of India’s worst train crash in over 20 years is not yet clear. Read Article
What's Drawing So Many Indians to Australia?
BBC News - Cherylann Mollan, BBC News, Mumbai
Rohit Singh speaks in an accent that's markedly different from his mother's.
He's a second-generation Indian immigrant living in Mornington Peninsula, a beachy cape that's about an hour's drive from Melbourne.
Over the past two years, he has been helping his parents run Avani, a boutique winery they founded after migrating to Australia in the 1990s. Read Article
How Modi and Biden Turbocharged India-US Ties
BBC News
Following a lavish state visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, US President Joe Biden has called his country's partnership with India among the "most consequential in the world". The BBC's Vikas Pandey and Soutik Biswas explore the factors that contribute to the visit's potential in strengthening the ties between the two nations.
The US's relationship with India - the world's most populous country - is "stronger, closer and more dynamic than any time in history", Mr Biden said at the completion of a pomp-filled state visit by Mr Modi to the White House. Read Article
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Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia |
Kenya-EU Trade Deal: Why the East African Community Was Left Out
BBC News - Waihiga Mwaura, BBC Focus on Africa TV
Kenya's President William Ruto hailed his country's "remarkable partnership" with the European Union (EU) as the two sides inked a 25-year trade deal, but it has raised questions about East African unity.
Has the region's economic powerhouse undermined that unity or did it have little choice but to go it alone? Read Article
Putin Accuses Wagner Group of a Treasonous 'Military Uprising' in Russia
NPR - Charles Maynes, Greg Myre
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned an uprising by the head of a pro-Kremlin mercenary force against his Defense Ministry as a "stab in the back" that risked undermining Russia's war effort in Ukraine.
"Those who organized this military uprising, who raised arms against their fellow military comrades will answer for it," Putin said in an address to the nation Saturday morning.
The Kremlin leader called on those participating in the rebellion to "make the only right choice: Stop taking part in this criminal activity." Read Article
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Proactive Technologies' Project Partners |
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Frank J. Gibson Consulting |
"One thing is certain... nothing is certain!"
The rate of change affecting work, the worker, management and the educational institutions that service all three has been accelerating - made worse by the unexpected Covid-19 pandemic. The economy, the consumer, supply chains and operational strategies have all been disrupted in the short-term, casting doubt on the long-term.
Rapid adaptation is the key to survivability, sustainability and growth. Sometimes an experienced outside advisor can help facilitate needed improvements to take the worry out of change and the fear out of growth. Frank J. Gibson Management and Workforce Excellence Advisor
- Business Development & Growth
- Workforce Development and Optimization
- Training and Cross-Training
- Local,/Regional Workforce Development Projects and Community Development
- Facilitated Problem Solving
- Process Improvement Cross-Functional Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
- Internship and Apprenticeship Projects
- Strategic Doing/Strategic Planning
Copyright © 2023 Frank J. Gibson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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PTI Systems
International, Inc.™
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- Affiliated with Proactive Technologies, Inc. for projects outside the United States;
- Workforce development partner for employers, and education/ training providers who support employers, to ensure every worker can be trained to full job mastery;
- Experienced with governmental, IDB, GIZ and economic development agency sponsored projects;
- Experienced in assuring multinational employers expanding to the U.S. have the skilled workforce they need.
- PTI Systems International sets-up complete worker development and performance management systems, and provides technical implementation support;
- We provide strategies for our project's transition to local management.
- Speakers for seminars and conferences.
Don't complain about a "skills gap," deliberately develop every worker to full job mastery!
© 2018-23 PTI Systems International, Inc.™
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"Personal goals are necessary for you and for me, but numerical goals set for other people, without a road map to reach the goal, have effects opposite to the effects sought."
American engineer, statistician,
professor, author, lecturer, and
management consultant
1900 - 1993
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast."
Austrian management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation
1909 - 2005
“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
1930 -
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis |
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, April 2023
The U.S. monthly international trade deficit increased in April 2023 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The deficit increased from $60.6 billion in March (revised) to $74.6 billion in April as exports decreased and imports increased. The goods deficit increased $14.5 billion in April to $96.1 billion. The services surplus increased $0.6 billion in April to $21.6 billion. Read Report
U.S. International Transactions, First Quarter and Annual Update
The U.S. current-account deficit widened by $3.1 billion, or 1.5 percent, to $219.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023, according to statistics released today by BEA. The revised fourth-quarter deficit was $216.2 billion. The first-quarter deficit was 3.3 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product, up less than 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter. Read Report
New Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
The statistics on new foreign direct investment in the United States provide information on the acquisition, establishment, and expansion of U.S. business enterprises by foreign direct investors. Read Reports
BEA International Trade and Investment Country Facts
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U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of the Census |
Monthly Wholesale Trade
April 2023 sales of merchant wholesalers were $652.8 billion, up 0.2 percent (+/- 0.4 percent)* from last month. End-of-month inventories were $915.7 billion, down 0.1 percent (+/- 0.4 percent)* from last month. April 2023: -0.1* % Change in Inventories; March 2023 (r): -0.2* % Change in Inventories. Read Report
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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
U.S. Data versus the World
Find, compare and share the latest OECD data: charts, maps, tables and related publications. Access Data
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International Trade in Services
Trade in services records the value of services exchanged between residents and non-residents of an economy, including services provided through foreign affiliates established abroad. This indicator is measured in million USD and percentage of GDP for exports, imports and net trade. Services include transport (both freight and passengers), travel, communications services (postal, telephone, satellite, etc.), construction services, insurance and financial services, computer and information services, royalties and license fees, other business services (merchanting, operational leasing, technical and professional services, etc.), cultural and recreational services, and government services not included in the list above. Trade in services drives the exchange of ideas, know-how and technology, although it is often restricted by barriers such as domestic regulations. All OECD countries compile their data according to the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA). Access Data and Tables
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It’s Time to Stand up to China |
IndustryWeek – Michael Collins
Our diplomatic policies have failed, and China is the winner.
OPINION
I think most people are waking up to the realities of dealing with China. We now know that they are not a friend or a trading partner. They are a competitor that uses technology theft, espionage and mercantilism, and whose primary objective is the global displacement of the United States.
After giving China most favored nation status and allowing them into the WTO, the United States. Adopted a policy of looking the other way when China broke the rules, thus encouraging them to do it again. Instead of facing up to the problems, the U.S. has chosen dialogue, diplomacy and collision avoidance over enforcement. This policy is generally called “forbearance.” It is based on the illusion that China would eventually see its interests best fulfilled by following the rules. Read Article
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Pullback in Exports Widens US Trade Gap in April |
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IndustryWeek - Agence France-Presse
In April, the overall trade deficit was $74.6 billion, expanding slightly less than expected by $14 billion, according to Commerce Department data.
The U.S. trade deficit grew in April on a pullback in exports, bringing the gap to its widest since October 2022, according to government data released on Wednesday.
Although the country's imports have been boosted by resilient consumer spending, analysts expect this trend to weaken as well going forward, while tighter lending conditions weigh on investments.
The anticipation is that trade could bring negative growth to gross domestic product in the second quarter of the year. Read Article
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Katherine Tai Says Globalization No Longer Sustainable |
Coalition for a Prosperous America – Kenneth Rapoza
Globalization in its current form is no longer sustainable, USTR Katherine Tai said at an event at the National Press Club last week.
Tai talked about broken supply chains and how we lost our economic resilience by sacrificing it for efficiency and price – as in the lowest price.
“Let me take a moment to explain how designing a system around efficiency and low costs got us here. Trusting markets to allocate capital efficiently, we designed trade rules to liberalize as much as possible, under the theory that we were facilitating the creation of a free global marketplace.
We thought a rising tide would lift all boats, believing that this approach could lead to a gradual improvement in labor standards and environmental protection as countries grew wealthier from increased trade flows. We did not include guardrails to ensure that it would be the case.
The system itself, then, created an incentive for countries to compete by maintaining lower standards, or by lowering their standards even further, as companies sought to minimize costs in pursuit of maximizing efficiency. This is the race to the bottom, where exploitation is rewarded and high standards are abandoned in order to compete and survive.
When efficiency and low cost are the only motivators, production moves outside our borders. It becomes increasingly consolidated in one economy—such as China — which manipulates cost structures, controls key industries, and became a dominant supplier for many important goods and technologies.” – Katherine Tai, June 2023, National Press Club, Washington DC. Read Article
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Switching Suppliers Is Highly Complex When Trying to Reshore |
IndustryWeek Market Moves - MH&L Staff
Reshoring is a goal for most companies in an effort to shorten supply chains, however, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are finding it difficult.
In a new survey, Capterra's 2023 Supplier Relationships Survey, of 300 supply chain managers at U.S. SMBs, 74% plan to shift most or all of their suppliers to North America, but managing the transition can be high-risk and complex.
The survey found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of businesses expect quicker delivery and fulfillment, and 54% expect improved supplier communication as a result of nearshoring. Enhanced responsiveness to issues helps to address an inconsistent quality of delivered goods, the second most common challenge reported among SMBs, the survey notes. Read Article
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Are Americans Investing in Chinese Forced Labor Companies? |
Coalition for a Prosperous America – Kenneth Rapoza
This week, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released their interim report on allegations of false labor along the apparel supply chain of two Chinese fast-fashion companies – Shein and Temu, owned by Pinduoduo, which is owned by PDD Holdings, a Nasdaq company.
It has long been alleged that Chinese apparel makers source cotton from Xinjiang, the East China province subject to import bans under the Uyghur Forced Labor Law. The reasoning behind the law was that no American consumer should be buying goods made by people forced to work, or not paid to work. And no American companies should be sourcing from there. Read Article
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Education And Workforce Development News |
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Only One-third of School Districts Have a Full-time Employee Dedicated to Cybersecurity |
Cybersecurity Dive – Anna Merod, Reporter
Dive Brief:
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Cybersecurity topped ed tech leaders’s concerns for a sixth straight year in the Consortium for School Networking’s 10th annual State of Ed Tech national survey.
- Despite ed tech leaders’ persistent sounding of the alarm over cybersecurity, only one-third of districts surveyed said they have a full-time employee focused on network security, CoSN found.
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Some 12% of districts said they do not allocate any funds for cyber defense, according to CoSN’s survey. Two-thirds of ed tech leaders said they don’t believe their district has enough resources to handle cybersecurity issues, Read Article
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Improving the Online Learning Experience for Students |
Community College Daily News – Terri Gustafson
A wise friend of mine once said to me, as I was lamenting the fact that I was finding it difficult to find time to read scholarly journals or books about online learning, “Learning is doing.”
A week later, I received a postcard from her in the mail with this exact phrase hand-doodled on the front of the card. I keep it next to my monitor in my home office to remind myself that this applies to my own online learning experience but to the students that my institution serves. Not only do they deserve a rich, online course experience, they expect it.
One of the top stories in mid-2021 was how colleges and universities failed students during their early Covid learning experiences. Students didn’t get what they were paying for — they felt forgotten and disconnected from their classmates and instructors. Read Article
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Only 42% of Tech Interns Would Recommend Their Internship to Others |
HR Dive - Carolyn Crist
Intern satisfaction remains below pre-pandemic levels across the board, Glassdoor said.
Less than half of interns in the tech industry would recommend their experience to a friend, according to a June 15 report from Glassdoor.
The percentage has remained low in 2023, reaching a record low of 41% during the first quarter and hovering at 42% for the second quarter. In 2019, IT internship recommendations surpassed 70%.
“The interns are not OK, according to internship reviews on Glassdoor,” the Glassdoor Economic Research Team wrote. “Near-record low shares of interns say they would recommend their internship to a friend.” Read and Hear Article
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Training And Organizational Development News |
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61% of Managers Say Exec Leaders Hold Them Back From Innovation: Weekly Stat |
CFO.com – Adam Zaki
Many finance leaders have a hands-on approach to leadership, but most managers believe it impedes their ability to innovate.
With the transformation of the CFO role from finance-centric to a multi-dimensional, people-centric position, more finance chiefs have taken a hands-on approach to their leadership styles. To keep managers and employees motivated, productive, and involved in decision-making, many finance leaders prioritize their presence within their own teams and the rest of the company. They need to do so, of course, without becoming overbearing to managers.
According to the Q2 2023 CFO Outlook Survey, managers blamed executives for their innovation issues. Whether it’s a perception of a lack of autonomy provided by leadership or a feeling their opinions aren’t being considered in innovation decision-making, some managers believe their hands are tied when it comes to modernizing. Read Article
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6 Ways Companies are ‘Quiet Firing’ White-collar Workers |
Business Insider – Madison Hoff
There are different ways companies push out employees without conducting layoffs.
One way, per Ben Wigert of Gallup, is taking away benefits and perks.
Another way, per Vicki Salemi of job site Monster, could be overlooking someone for a career advancement opportunity. Read Article
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5 Tips for Growing as a Leader without Burning Out |
IndustryWeek - Kellogg Insight
The former president of Kraft Foods shares how to think holistically about your career.
Most people realize that growing as a leader takes effort. But the path forward is not always obvious, says Sanjay Khosla, senior fellow and adjunct professor of marketing at the Kellogg School and trained executive coach.
“Becoming more efficient and working harder is sometimes a complete waste of time,” he warns. “All you’re trying to do is become better on the same treadmill, often mindlessly responding to emails and completing tasks.”
Khosla, former president of Kraft Foods International (now Mondelez International), says that anyone looking to bolster their leadership skills should think strategically about how to prepare themselves for new opportunities without burning themselves out. Read Article
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Generation Now Leadership: Finding Passion at Precision Plus |
IndustryWeek - Anna Smith
“I came here in the hopes of just getting a 40-hour work week, and I ended up being quality manager within five years of starting,” says Maria Valadez. Courtesy of Precision Plus
Name: Maria Valadez
Age: 23
Company: Precision Plus
Education: Two-year degree for Business Management (in progress)
Position: Quality Manager
After graduating from high school early, Maria Valadez wasn’t looking for a manufacturing career, just a full-time job that would fund her nursing career aspirations. But, with thousands of baby boomers retiring every year and an ongoing labor shortage, she quickly learned that there were huge opportunities at Precision Plus, a company that manufactures precision machined products. Read Article
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Workers Say They Don’t Have Access to Promotions, Training |
HR Dive - Kathryn Moody, Senior Editor
More than three-quarters of workers surveyed said their leaders show bias in promotion decisions, according to an eLearning Industry report.
More than half of workers surveyed by eLearning Industry said their companies do not offer learning or training opportunities that would allow them to learn and reach promotions, according to a report released June 20.
That’s especially true for workers in the retail space; 60% of those surveyed said as much.
Additionally, workers must contend with clear favoritism in promotion decisions, showcasing a lack of solid promotion policies, the report said. More than three-quarters of workers surveyed said their leaders show bias, and 60% said their leaders only promote people who share their same opinions. Tech, manufacturing, retail and hospitality workers all particularly pointed out issues with favoritism and bias. Read and Hear Article
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Access Proactive Technologies' Recent "Proactive Technologies Workforce News" Article Quicklinks |
Located on the left panel below, this includes articles on structured worker development, achieving worker "full job mastery," engineering/quality/safety compliance, ISO/TS/AS quality program support and compliance, and many other contemporary worker development and management topics. |
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Recent Proactive Technologies News Article Quicklinks |
June
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations - Eastern U.S. - Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. - Staff
May
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
April
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. – Staff
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
March
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
February
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
by Frank Gibson, Workforce Development Advisor, retired from The Ohio State University – Alber Enterprise Center
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
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Proactive Technologies, Inc. Partners With Educational Institutions, Workforce/Economic
Development Groups, Government Agencies
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Structured on-the-job training attracts and engages employers in workforce development partnerships...some projects sustainable for more than 18 years!
This creates a steady need for your related technical instruction, services and a pathway for employment.
These partnerships:
- enhance your institution's opportunity to market your products and services to incumbent workers;
- allow your organization to include structured on-the-job training as a capstone to preemployment preparation;
- document a trainee-to worker's increasing value to the employer - the key to retention - rather than leaving it to chance;
- properly aligns workforce development resources and maximizes the impact and results; allows you to engage an employer's facility, equipment and staff in the training process;
- provides the best, sustainable infrastructure for apprenticeships and internships that last!
- is a win for the trainee, win for the worker, win for the employer, win for the institution and win for the community!
This approach has continued to prove itself since 1988, and does not compete with your school's or agency's products and services; it adds to your efforts the clear, tangible, measurable advantage that employers seek.
Copyright © 2015 - 2023 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Tri-Rivers Career Center - Adult Education provides lifelong, continuous learning for a diverse adult population. We utilize practical skills with an eye toward technological advancement.
We partner with state agencies and employers to provide targeted skill development to future and incumbent workers.
Our RAMTEC (Robotic and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative) facility - one of many throughout the state - offers advanced technical training in specialized areas such as robotics, robotic welding, and engineering technology.
Copyright © 2022 Tri-Rivers Career Center - Adult Education - RAMTEC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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PROACTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CLIENT SERVICES |
To supplement onsite PROTECH™ system of managed human resource development classes, these regularly scheduled webinars are available to the registered staff of clients:
- Structured On-The-Job Training Instructor Certification
- Structured On-The Job Training Checklist Administrator Certification
- Management Structured On-The-Job Training Project Support Briefing
- Integrating Support for Plant-Wide ISO/AS/IATF Quality and Safety Systems with PROTECH Workforce Development System
- Supporting "Pay-For-Value" Systems
- Promoting Continuous Process Improvement While Implementing the PROTECH System for the Accelerated Transfer of Expertise™
- PROTECH Onsite Lead Trainer and System Administrator Certification
Contact US t o attend one of these seminars and we will send you an e-reservation. Include your client ID, name and user ID number and which webinar you would like to attend.
Copyright © 2019-23 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Jaguar I-Pace EV Recalled Over Battery Fire Risks |
AutoWeek – Emmet White
Battery overheating can be a major problem for Evs, especially after a crash.
Lithium-ion batteries pose a special fire risk, and many automakers are finding that out the hard way, as EV fire recalls continue.
Jaguar Land Rover is the latest manufacturer to deal with the fallout of thermal overloads, as around 6400 US-delivered I-Pace crossovers are recalled.
A battery temperature alerting system makes up the first part of the fix, though JLR has said it will replace battery packs free of charge as needed. Read Article
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Nearly 500,000 PowerXL Juicers Recalled After Dozens of Injuries Reported |
USA Today – Francisco Guzman
Empower Brands is recalling 469,000 of its PowerXL Self-Cleaning Juicers after dozens of injuries were reported, including severe cuts and ingestion of small particles, officials said.
The company has received 261 reports of the juicers rupturing during use, which led to 47 reports of injuries including severe cuts, stitches, bruises and people ingesting small particles that required medical attention, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a news release Thursday. Read Article
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Tesla Recalls Nearly 140 Model Y Evs Over Serious Steering Wheel Issue |
Business Standard
Elon Musk-run Tesla has recalled 137 Model Y electric vehicles (EVs) in the US in response to an issue with the fastener for the steering wheel.
According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) safety recall report, 137 2022-2023 Tesla Model Y may possibly have a “loose” fastener that could cause disconnection of the steering wheel from its column. Read Article
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NOAA Predicts a Near-Normal 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season |
US Department of Commerce – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA forecasters with the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, predict near-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, which goes from June 1 to November 30, predicts a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 30% chance of an above-normal season and a 30% chance of a below-normal season.
NOAA is forecasting a range of 12 to 17 total named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher). Of those, 5 to 9 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 1 to 4 major hurricanes (category 3, 4 or 5; with winds of 111 mph or higher). NOAA has a 70% confidence in these ranges. Read Release
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Opinion American Life Expectancy is Dropping — and It’s Not All Covid’s Fault |
The Washington Post – Steven H. Woolf and Laudan Aron
Steven H. Woolf is a professor of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth University. Laudan Aron is a senior fellow in the Health Policy Center at the Urban Institute in D.C.
Last fall, when federal statistics showed life expectancy had fallen for Americans in 2021 for a second year in a row, it was clear that the devastating covid-19 pandemic was the immediate cause. The coronavirus took the lives of more than 1 million Americans. Life expectancy fell by more than two years — and by twice as much among Hispanic, Black and Native Americans — setting the country back by two decades and producing the most abrupt decline in life expectancy since World War II. Read and Hear Article
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Living Better: What it Takes to Get Healthy in America |
NPR – Allison Aubrey
Good health depends on more than daily exercise and a healthy diet. Access to safe housing, good schools and a decent job are important too.
When COVID-19 hit, Americans watched the news in horror as the death count rose and rose again, with thousands of deaths a day throughout multiple waves. Deaths from the virus were sudden and tragic, but today we’re living through a slower pandemic that also brings a tragic loss of lives every day — from preventable, chronic diseases.
These deaths are often hidden in plain sight. For instance, nearly a thousand deaths a day are linked to diet-related disease — heart disease, complications from Type 2 diabetes and liver disease. And diet now outranks smoking as a leading cause of death around the globe. Chronic stress fueled by poverty and racism also contributes to the toll of preventable deaths. Read Article
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Swiss Voters Support Climate Bill as Scientists Warn About Melting Glaciers |
NPR – The Associated Press
BERLIN — A majority of Swiss citizens on Sunday voted in favor of a bill aimed at introducing new climate measures to sharply curb the rich Alpine nation's greenhouse gas emissions.
Final results released by public broadcaster SRF showed that 59.1% of voters were in favor of the bill, while 40.9% voted against.
The referendum was sparked by a campaign by scientists and environmentalists to save Switzerland's iconic glaciers, which are melting away at an alarming rate. Read Article
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For Amateur Astronomers, 'Star Parties' are the Antidote to Light-polluted Skies |
NPR - Scott Neuman
COUDERSPORT, Pa. — Up a winding road that cuts through the Allegheny Plateau, hundreds of amateur astronomers in campers and pickups stream into northern Pennsylvania each spring and summer in search of one thing: stars.
It's something they can't get enough of in the halo of light pollution that surrounds most cities. By contrast, Cherry Springs State Park, located about 135 miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre, is one of the very few truly dark sky sites in the entire eastern United States. Read Article
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Cyber Security And IT News |
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Vmware’s ‘Target-rich Environment’ is Growing More Volatile, CrowdStrike Warns |
Cybersecurity Dive – Matt Kapko, Reporter
Ransomware groups continue to target Vmware because they know the virtualization infrastructure is vulnerable and lacks security tools, threat researchers said.
Organizations using Vmware-based virtualization infrastructure, specifically ESXi and associated products, are confronting a deluge of attacks. More threat actors are coalescing their efforts around the widely used products to initiate ransomware attacks, CrowdStrike Intelligence said Monday.
“More and more threat actors are recognizing that the lack of security tools, lack of adequate network segmentation of ESXi interfaces, and in the wild vulnerabilities for ESXi create a target-rich environment,” CrowdStrike researchers wrote in the hypervisor jackpotting update. Read Article
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Resilience Sounds Alarm on 300% Ransomware Resurgence |
Cybersecurity Dive – Alexei Alexis, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- A report unveiled Tuesday by cyber insurer Resilience takes aim at the notion that 2022 was a game-changing year in the fight against ransomware.
- While data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis suggests that ransomware activity slowed last year, an analysis of 2022 ransomware claims by Resilience customers shows more of a mixed picture, according to the report. Resilience said its ransomware claims dropped in the first half of 2022, but the trend began to reverse itself in the latter half of the year. The claims grew 300% from the third quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of this year, it said.
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“These ransomware actors are continuing to innovate and adopt new technologies in order to drive up their profits,” Resilience CEO Vishaal Hariprasad said in an interview. “Any company that’s not taking this seriously is going to get hit.” Read Article
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Broad Campaign Underway to Access US Critical Infrastructure Using Small, Home Office Devices |
Cybersecurity Dive – David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- Microsoft researchers and federal authorities are warning about a malicious cyber campaign against U.S. critical infrastructure providers that may be designed to disrupt communications with Asia amid growing hostilities with the People’s Republic of China.
- A state-sponsored threat actor, which Microsoft identified as Volt Typhoon under its new naming taxonomy, is operating a stealth campaign that abuses small office, home office routers, firewalls and VPN devices to blend into normal daily activity. The hackers are abusing internet-facing Fortinet FortiGuard devices to gain initial access into companies and leveraging compromised SOHO devices from a range of companies, including ASUS, Cisco, D-Link, Netgear and Zyxel.
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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with the FBI, the National Security Agency and cyber agencies from the Five Eyes, issued an advisory about the campaign Wednesday. Officials said the hackers are using living-off-the-land techniques to blend in with normal Windows activity and evade discovery by endpoint detection and response software. Read Article
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Amazon Must Pay Over $30 million Over Claims it Invaded Privacy with Ring and Alexa |
NPR – Ayana Archie
The Federal Trade Commission has accused Amazon of harboring children’s data even when parents request it to be deleted, as well giving its Ring employees access to users’ videos.
Michael Sohn/AP
Amazon will pay more than $30 million in fines to settle alleged privacy violations involving its voice assistant Alexa and doorbell camera Ring, according to federal filings.
In one lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission claims the tech company violated privacy laws by keeping recordings of children’s conversations with its voice assistant Alexa, and in another that its employees have monitored customers’ Ring camera recordings without their consent. Read Article
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ABB Confirms Ransomware Attack Resulted in Data Theft |
Cybersecurity Dive – Matt Kapko, Reporter
The Switzerland-based industrial automation giant said customer systems were not directly impacted. Key services and factories remain operational.
The industrial automation giant ABB confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack earlier this month that resulted in the theft of unspecified data.
A threat actor accessed ABB’s IT environment and deployed ransomware that is not self-propagating, impacting a “limited number” of servers and endpoints, the Switzerland-based company said last week in a press release and FAQ about the attack.
ABB runs an extensive business spanning 21 divisions with customers in industrial machinery, robotics, manufacturing, oil, gas, renewable energy, automotive, food processing, household products, medical equipment and communications, among other sectors. The enterprise operates in more than 100 countries with about 100,000 employees, with roughly one-fifth of its workforce based in the U.S. Read Article
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Barracuda Patches Actively Exploited Zero-day Vulnerability in Email Gateways |
Cybersecurity Dive – Matt Kapko, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- A zero-day vulnerability in Barracuda’s email security gateway appliance was actively exploited to gain unauthorized access in a “subset” of the devices, the security vendor said in an incident report Tuesday.
- Barracuda first identified the vulnerability, CVE-2023-2868, on May 19 and applied a security patch to all impacted appliances globally on May 20. A second patch, which the company said was part of its containment strategy, was issued to the devices on May 21, Barracuda said.
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The remote command injection vulnerability in a module for email attachment screening can be exploited by a threat actor to remotely execute system commands in Barracuda’s product. Barracuda declined to answer questions about how many customers were impacted and what, if any, customer data was compromised. Read Article
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Cybercriminals Target C-suite, Family Members with Sophisticated Attacks |
Cybersecurity Dive – David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- Senior level corporate executives are increasingly being targeted by sophisticated cyberattacks that target their corporate and home office environments and even extend to family members, according to a study released Monday from BlackCloak and Ponemon Institute.
- About 42% of organizations surveyed had a senior executive or an executive’s family member attacked over the past two years. The study is based on a survey of more than 550 IT security leaders.
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These attacks often lead to the theft of sensitive company data, including financial information, intellectual property or other information. In one-third of these cases, hackers are reaching these executives through insecure home-office networks used during remote work. Read Article
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What We Know About the MOVEit Vulnerability and Compromises |
Cybersecurity Dive - Matt Kapko, Reporter
Active exploits already resulted in a follow-on attack that’s impacted multiple organizations. Threat hunters are on guard and anticipate more victims.
A spree initiated by a financially-motivated ransomware group that actively exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Progress Software’s MOVEit file transfer service to steal customers’ data is afoot.
Exploits have been underway for at least four months, according to Trustwave, and the compromise of MOVEit databases has resulted in at least one follow-on attack that has ensnared multiple downstream victims. Read Aricle
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Musk Says China Detailed Plans to Regulate AI |
IndustryWeek - Agence France-Presse
A flurry of Chinese companies have been rushing to develop AI services that can mimic human speech since San Francisco-based OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November.
Top Chinese officials told Elon Musk about plans to launch new regulations on artificial intelligence on his recent trip to the Asian giant, the tech billionaire said Monday, in his first comments on the two-day visit.
The Twitter owner and Tesla CEO -- one of the world's richest men -- held meetings with senior officials in Beijing and employees in Shanghai last week. Read Article
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How to Spot and Avoid Credit Card Skimmers and Shimmers |
PC Magazine - Max Eddy
Small devices called skimmers and the even more insidious shimmers can easily steal your credit and debit card information when you swipe. Here's how to protect yourself from these rare, but nasty, attacks.
I vividly remember the moment I realized how woefully insecure credit and debit cards are. I watched as someone took an off-the-shelf USB magnetic strip reader and plugged it into a computer, which recognized it as a keyboard. They opened a word processor and swiped the card. A series of numbers dutifully appeared in the text file. That was it: The card's information had been pilfered.
That same technology has matured and miniaturized. Tiny "skimmers" can be attached to ATMs and payment terminals to skim your data off the card's magnetic strip (called a "magstripe"). Even smaller "shimmers" are shimmed into card readers to attack the chips on newer cards. Now there's also a digital version called e-skimming pilfering data from payment websites. Fortunately, there are many ways to protect yourself from these attacks. Read Article
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Microsoft Investigating Threat Actor Claims Following Multiple Outages in 365, OneDrive |
Cybersecurity Dive - David Jones, Reporter
A hacktivist group known as Anonymous Sudan has claimed to be involved in DDoS attacks.
Microsoft is investigating claims by an alleged hacktivist group that it launched a series of DDoS attacks that disrupted the company’s OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 services.
The company suffered a series of outages this week that impacted a range of services, including Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. The OneDrive disruption was still impacting customers as of Thursday. Read Article
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Digital Automotive Keys Increase Safety Issues |
The Auto Journal - Editor
However, automotive cybersecurity specialists are nonetheless figuring out if digital keys are as safe because the business claims.
Kent mentioned a rash of current automotive thefts within the U.Okay. concentrating on new automobiles with keyless programs that have been hacked utilizing relay assaults or “key cloning” demonstrates how the business underestimates car safety.
Automakers have responded to key cloning assaults with keys that go into sleep mode. Vehicle house owners have tried a special technique, similar to holding keys in a metallic container like espresso cans or breath mint tins. Read Article
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Barracuda ESG Devices Actively Exploited in Broad, Ongoing Espionage Campaign |
Cybersecurity Dive - David Jones, Reporter
Dive Brief:
- A suspected threat actor affiliated with China is exploiting a subset of compromised Barracuda Email Security Gateway SG devices to launch a widespread espionage campaign in support of the People’s Republic of China, according to a report released Thursday by Mandiant.
- The threat actor, tracked as UNC4841, has been sending emails with malicious attachments since October 2022, in order to exploit the zero-day vulnerability disclosed in May. The hackers used a variety of custom malware to maintain a presence in targeted systems, and most of the exploitation taking place in the Americas.
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“This is the broadest cyber espionage campaign known to be conducted by a China-nexus threat actor since the mass exploitation of Microsoft Exchange in 2021,” Charles Carmakal, CTO of Mandiant Consulting, Google Cloud said in a statement. “In the Barracuda instance, the threat actor compromised email security appliances of hundreds of organizations.” Read and Hear Article
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Another MOVEit Vulnerability Found, as State and Federal Agencies Reveal Breaches |
Cybersecurity Dive - Naomi Eide, Lead Editor
The third vulnerability since Progress Software first disclosed a MOVEit Transfer zero day arrived just as CISA officials said a “small number” of federal agencies were impacted.
Progress Software discovered a new MOVEit Transfer vulnerability, the company said in an advisory Thursday, marking the third since Progress disclosed a zero day associated with its managed file transfer services on May 31. The first vulnerability, CVE-2023-34362, was followed by a second, CVE-2023-35036, last week. Read Article
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Human Resource Management News |
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ADP Background Check Incorrectly Reported Job Seeker Was a Drug Dealer, Lawsuit Claims |
HR Dive - Emilie Shumway, Editor
The lawsuit is being proposed as a class action representing potentially “hundreds of thousands of individuals.”
A Connecticut job seeker has filed a lawsuit against ADP’s background-check screening arm, alleging the company violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act when it incorrectly reported he was a convicted drug dealer, costing him a newly offered job.
The plaintiff applied for a job as a part-time patient coordinator at a Connecticut dental practice sometime around August 2022, according to the May 10 complaint, Ramos, III, v. ADP Screening and Selection Services, Inc. He was offered the job, contingent on a successful background check. Read Article
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Select Issues: Assessing Adverse Impact in Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence Used in Employment Selection Procedures Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Employers now have a wide variety of algorithmic decision-making tools available to assist them in making employment decisions, including recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion, transfer, performance monitoring, demotion, dismissal, and referral. Employers increasingly utilize these tools in an attempt to save time and effort, increase objectivity, optimize employee performance, or decrease bias.
Many employers routinely monitor their more traditional decision-making procedures to determine whether these procedures cause disproportionately large negative effects on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). Employers may have questions about whether and how to monitor the newer algorithmic decision-making tools. The Questions and Answers in this document address this and several closely related issues. Read Release
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Amazon Delivery Drivers in Colorado Peed in Bottles, Pooped in Bags to Keep Jobs, Lawsuit Says |
Colorado Public Radio - Matt Bloom
Ryan Schilling spent eight years in the U.S. Army serving in combat zones during the Iraq War. After he left the service and moved to Aurora in 2018, he applied for a job as an Amazon delivery driver.
Within a few weeks of training and starting the job, he found himself overwhelmed with the demands. During his busiest shifts, he was required to make over 200 stops a day, delivering upwards of 500 packages to customers’ doorsteps.
Along the way, he barely had time to use the restroom or take his state-mandated 10-minute rest break every four hours, he said in an interview. He often skipped lunch to keep up with Amazon’s performance metrics.
“The speed you have to complete your route on time is, for most people, inhuman,” Schilling, 28, said.
To avoid falling behind, Schilling would pack plastic water bottles to urinate in during his shift. On more than one occasion, he pooped into a doggie waste bag in the back of his truck. Read Article
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LinkedIn Rolls Out Job Ad Verifications |
HR Dive - Kathryn Moody, Senior Editor
Dive Brief:
- LinkedIn has begun rollout of verifications on job posts, indicating whether the poster “is affiliated with an official company page, has verified their work email or workplace, or their government ID was verified through CLEAR,” according to a company announcement Monday.
- In April, the company announced new, free ways that recruiters and job seekers can verify their accounts, from government ID verification to work email confirmation. Companies that use Microsoft Entra can also use that platform to issue digital workplace IDs.
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LinkedIn messages with “high-risk content,” such as a recruiter asking an applicant to take the conversation to another platform, will also be flagged to users as signs of potential scams, the company said. Read Article
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Supreme Court Limits Union’s Strike Protection |
HR Dive - Ginger Christ, Reporter
The union says the decision “opens the door” for corporations to sue workers.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a union’s strike was not protected by the National Labor Relations Act.
Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court’s ruling that a strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174 members employed by concrete provider Glacier Northwest was protected under the National Labor Relations Law.
- In an 8-1 decision (Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174), the high court ruled that because the union knew a work stoppage could cause harm to the company’s product but did not take “reasonable precautions” to prevent it, its activity was not protected by labor law.
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“The parties agree that the NLRA protects the right to strike but that this right is not absolute. The National Labor Relations Board has long taken the position — which the parties accept — that the NLRA does not shield strikers who fail to take “reasonable precautions” to protect their employer’s property from foreseeable, aggravated, and imminent danger due to the sudden cessation of work,” the court wrote in the majority opinion. Read Article
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NLRB Returns to Obama-era Independent Contractor Test |
HR Dive - Kate Tornone, Lead Editor
The ruling may open the door to more unionization, employment law attorneys say.
The National Labor Relations Board reinstated an Obama-era independent contractor test Tuesday, departing from a more employer-friendly test adopted during the Trump administration.
The Board held that the makeup artists, wig artists, and hair stylists who work at the Atlanta Opera are employees. The workers had filed an election petition with NLRB seeking union representation — a right unavailable to independent contractors.
In its decision, the Board said it rejected its 2019 position in SuperShuttle — a stance taken during the Trump administration — that entrepreneurial opportunity for gain or loss should be the “animating principle” of the independent-contractor test. Read and Hear Article
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Environmental, Health & Safety News |
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Mental Health Stigma in the Workplace Persists |
EHS Today - Adrienne Selko
Resistance to openness in the workplace regarding mental health reflects a mindset that has been in place for many years.
For the past couple of years every safety professional has been searching for ways to help their employees deal with the increased level of mental health issues, mostly stemming from the pandemic.
The size of this issue is hard to understate. According to an analysis by the National Center for Health Statistics, 27% reported having symptoms of an anxiety disorder or depression in the past two years. Prior to COVID, that rate was 10.8%. Read Article
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US Workers Testing Positive for Marijuana After Job Accidents at a 25-year High, Data Shows |
HR Dive - Laurel Kalser, Contributor
Dive Brief:
- The percentage of employees in the general U.S. workforce who tested positive for marijuana after a job accident reached a 25-year high in 2022, according to data released May 18 by Quest Diagnostics.
- In 2022, 7.3% of the general workforce (private sector employees in non-safety-sensitive jobs) tested positive for marijuana in a post-accident urine test, up from 6.7% in 2021, according to Quest’s latest Drug Testing Index. After rising steadily each year for the past 10 years, the 2022 positivity rate reflected a 204% jump since 2012, Quest said.
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The increase in post-accident marijuana positivity rates corresponds with the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in certain states, starting in 2012 with Colorado and Washington, Quest noted in a news release. The DTI data “provide compelling evidence that increased use of cannabis products can contribute to greater risk for injuries in the workplace,” Katie Mueller, a National Safety Council senior program manager, stated. Read and Hear Article
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Is My Computer Setup Ergonomically Correct? |
EHS Today - Staff
Proper monitor distance, chair height, desk and mouse placement all contribute to minimizing stress on the body.
Whether we are back at the office or working from home, we often slip into bad office posture habits when it comes to how we work at our computers.
The Mayo Clinic offers advice on how to set the proper positioning when using a computer in order to up y avoid some of the health problems associated with seated work, such as neck and back pain and sore wrists and shoulders, by using proper office ergonomics. The chair height, equipment spacing and desk posture all make a difference. Read Article
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Construction Workers at Risk for Lung Disease Says New Study |
EHS Today - Staff
Research showed that 28.6% of 18,145 participating construction workers developed RSP, which causes an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer.
A lung disease that involves a restrictive spirometry pattern (RSP) due to exposure to hazardous materials is putting construction workers at risk. A study published by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that this condition is putting workers at a significantly increased risk of developing occupational lung disease.
The restriction comes about when the lungs become stiff after inhaling dust over time, which causes scarring that reduces the person’s ability to breathe in, as reported in an article on Duke University’s School of Medicine’s website. Read Article
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How Effective Is Your Forklift Safety Training? |
EHS Today - Stephanie Kovach
To identify gaps in your forklift safety training, ask these eight questions to evaluate your current program.
A fragmented and inconsistent approach to safety is inadequate when applied to today’s dynamic, fast-moving work environments. The result can include increased risk to employees, disruptions in operations, damaged equipment and exposure to compliance issues.
Implementing an integrated and individualized approach to a safety training plan can help bring a consistent focus to safety management. It also stresses the important role everyone plays in creating and maintaining a safe work environment. Read Article
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How to Avoid Putting Your Lockout/Tagout Program at Risk |
EHS Today - Ray Chishti
Avoid these four problem areas to keep your workers safe from electrical energy hazards.
Thanks to advancements in technology, manufacturers are increasingly using computer-based controls in their equipment and machines. These can be programmed to lock out the machine or equipment. This is necessary during minor repairs and servicing because they require constant energization. Built-in technology can help prevent and reduce electrical injuries and fatalities by designing out electrical hazards and risks.
Over the last few years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also been exploring whether modern technology can effectively protect workers from hazardous energy.
OSHA issued a Request for Information (RFI) in May 2019 to understand the strengths and limitations of this new technology as well as the potential hazards to workers. Read Article
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Lack of Lockout, Tag-out Training to Blame for Amputation at Hostess Facility, OSHA Concludes |
HR Dive - Kate Tornone, Lead Editor
The agency said injuries often occur when manufacturers fail to make sure machine safety procedures are followed and employees are trained properly.
A lack of lockout and tag-out training led to employee injury at a Hostess facility, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded. For that and other alleged violations, the agency has proposed nearly $300,000 in penalties, it said Friday.
An employee’s fingertip was amputated while reassembling a pump at a Chicago facility, according to OSHA — “an injury the employer could have prevented by ensuring to shut down and lockout the equipment to prevent it from unexpectedly starting during maintenance,” the agency concluded after an investigation. Read and Hear Article
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Having trouble finding, selecting, training and keeping the skilled workers you need? Are your employee turnover costs a concern?
Let's start with what we already know:
- Classes alone will not train workers to perform your tasks...
- Quality Control policies and Process Documents are not a substitute for task training...
- Putting 2 people together and hoping for the best is not a training strategy...
- Wishing and hoping won't develop the skilled workers you need...
The cost of one worker malperformance or one worker's under-capacity or under-performance - due to lack of proper training - can more than justify the investment to train all your workers properly!
AND, unstructured, uncontrolled, undocumented task training is going on all day, every day. But if you cannot explain the process, you surely cannot measure and improve it.
Proactive Technologies's approach to structured on-the-job training takes place where, and while, the work is performed. You need no additional staff and structured on-the-job training does not interrupt your work schedule like unstructured, haphazard and ad hoc training or classroom learning does.
You probably have most of the pieces are already in place; they just need structure around them to make the training experience work for everyone through the accelerated transfer of expertise™.
As part of every project, Proactive Technologies provides the support to set-up, implement, manage, document and revise the worker development system so you can stay focused on business.
Copyright © 2019-23 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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EMPLOYERS!
If your organization sees training as a cost, not as an investment, maybe you should consider another approach!
- Cuts the employer's internal costs of training;
- Lowers the costs associated with turnover;
- Drives new-hires and incumbent workers to "full job mastery;"
- Increases worker capacity, work quality, productivity and compliance (ISO/AS/IATF training and records requirement, engineering specifications and safety mandates);
- Creates framework for cross-training, retraining and worker certification;
- Establishes the framework for employer specific/job-specific apprenticeships and internships - registered or not;
- Builds career development tracks and succession plans for hourly (and salary) workers;
- Ensures the increased and maintained "Return on Worker investment" through any type of change...
ALL OF THIS FROM ONE APPROACH!
This structured on-the-job training is performed where, and while, the work takes place!
You need no additional staff, and this will not disrupt your work schedule or burden your existing staff!
If your firm is partnered with local career and technical educational institutions, use of shared employer's equipment, facilities and paid wages of trainer(s) and trainee(s) are attractive match for potential grant assistance.
for more information.
Copyright © 2019-23 Proactive Technologies, Inc.™
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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Copyright © 1988 - 2023 Proactive Technologies, Inc.TM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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