(NEW YORK) — Before you start on that charcuterie board, check your meats to ensure they’re safe to consume.
Over 50,000 pounds of ready-to-eat sausage products were recalled Sunday due to possible listeria contamination, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced.
The agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, along with Daniele International LLC, a Rhode Island-based food manufacturer, announced that the recall affected nearly 52,914 pounds of products, which “may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes.”
“FSIS discovered the problem during routine inspection activities where Listeria monocytogenes was found on surfaces in which the product came into contact,” the recall stated.
The affected products were produced on dates spanning from May 23, 2022 through Nov. 25, 2022, and were shipped to retailers nationwide through Jan. 17, 2023, FSIS announced.
Eight SKUs under various brand labels are subject to the recall and bear the establishment number “EST. 54” inside the USDA mark of inspection, according to the agency:
– 6-ounce plastic tray of “FREDERIK’S by meijer SPANISH STYLE charcuterie sampler tray” with sell by date 4/15/23.
– 6-ounce plastic tray of “Boar’s Head CHARCUTUERIE TRIO” with sell by dates 4/13/23, 4/14/23, and 4/15/23.
– 7-ounce plastic tray of “COLAMECO’S PRIMO NATURALE GENOA UNCURED SALAMI” with sell by date 12/23/23.
– 7-ounce plastic tray of “COLAMECO’S PRIMO NATURALE BLACK PEPPER UNCURED SALAMI” with use by dates 12/22/23, 12/30/23, and 1/17/24.
– 1-pound plastic tray of “DEL DUCA SOPRESSATA, COPPA & GENOA SALAMI” with sell by dates 4/13/23 and 4/14/23.
– 1-pound plastic tray of “DEL DUCA CALABRESE, PROSCIUTTO & COPPA” with sell by date 5/6/23.
– 1-pound plastic tray of “DEL DUCA GENOA SALAMI, UNCURED PEPPERONI & HARD SALAMI” with use by date 5/4/23.
– 12-ounce plastic tray of “Gourmet Selection SOPRESSATA, CAPOCOLLO, HARD SALAME” with sell by date 4/14/23.
Click here for additional label information and product details provided by the USDA and Daniele International LLC.
“FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” Sunday’s recall announcement stated.
As of time of publication, USDA officials said there had been “no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products.”
“Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider,” the recall added.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), listeria can cause severe illness “when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body” after a person consumes contaminated food.
“Listeria is especially harmful if you are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system due to certain medical conditions or treatments,” the CDC states. “If you are pregnant, it can cause pregnancy loss, premature birth, or a life-threatening infection in your newborn. Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.”
Those at lower risk of severe illness can experience “mild food poisoning symptoms like diarrhea and fever, and usually recover without treatment,” the CDC adds.
ABC News’ Good Morning America has reached out to Daniele International LLC for comment on the recall.
(NEW YORK) — Layoffs have battered the tech industry in 2023, carrying over a series of job cuts that began last year. In all, about 50,000 people have lost their positions this month.
Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon have led the sector in the size of their cuts. While a slew of smaller companies like Spotify, Vox Media and IBM have imposed layoffs too.
Sales at top tech firms have retreated from the blistering pace attained during the pandemic, when billions across the world were forced into isolation.
Company officials have often cited economic uncertainty and recession fears in their layoff announcements.
While the large-scale job cuts sound economic alarm, they mark a more immediate, intimate rupture for the workers who suffer them. ABC News spoke with three laid-off workers about what the experience was like and how they’re coping with it.
Nneoma Ajiwe, Spotify
What started as a normal morning turned into a surprise for 29-year-old Nneoma Ajiwe.
Around 5:14 am, Ajiwe says she received a calendar invite requesting her attendance in a one-on-one meeting with someone on Spotify’s HR team.
“It’s funny because the night before I was texting my coworker Tiktoks that we were laughing at and she’s like ‘I don’t mean to alarm you’ and sent this Bloomberg article about Spotify doing layoffs as early as this week,” Ajiwe said. “I told her that we’re probably okay.”
Little did she know, she’d be one of the 6% of employees, roughly around 600, to be slashed from Spotify’s workforce this year.
About an hour after Ajiwe received her calendar invite, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sent out an email to employees breaking the news.
“I was literally driving on my way to the gym,” Ajiwe said.
The Houston native is a 2016 graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. She’d worked for a plethora of companies in the industry such as Billboard, Genius, Sirius XM and XXL Magazine but always saw her career at Spotify as “unattainable.”
Ajiwe had applied five times before she was granted the job of social marketing manager for Spotify for Artists and Spotify Charts in May 2022.
Having been laid off from a different employer before, Ajiwe shared that she felt many different emotions this time around but the one that she felt just days after the Monday layoff was “annoyed.”
“This sucks because I particularly loved this team. I just got there. I loved my job,” Ajiwe said. “I’m still shocked and just trying to sort through feelings and think about what I need to do.”
In response to a request for comment, Spotify provided the memo about the layoffs that Ek sent to employees.
“Like many other leaders, I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us,” Ek said. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”
Although layoffs can cause an immediate bout of financial trouble, Ajiwe works as a photographer on the side and calls herself a “good saver.”
Because of this, she figures she will take a month or so to figure out her next move.
“I wasn’t devastated by the fact that I may not have any money coming in for three months, because I know I have stuff that I do on the side. But it does suck because this was the highest I was making. It was my career,” she said.
“I just think that with every opportunity that has closed for me, something better has always happened. I firmly believe that God is going to put me in a better place,” Ajiwe said.
Jonathan Bellack, Google
Jonathan Bellack, 50, who worked at Google for nearly 15 years, said he knew his tenure was nearly over — and he wanted it that way. Two months ago, he told the company he sought to leave early in 2023.
When he made the request, Bellack had expected Google to work with him on a plan for handing off his duties and saying goodbye. Instead, he didn’t hear much, he said.
“I had an inkling that something was up,” said Bellack, who lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
A self-described “workaholic,” Bellack had climbed the ranks at Google, becoming a senior director of product management who oversaw a team of about 45 employees devoted to developing systems that protect users from phishing schemes and other attacks.
Over time, he says he came to enjoy the mentorship and relationships more than other parts of the job, he said.
Bellack says he woke up at about 5 a.m. on Jan. 20 and found an email telling him “‘the company no longer has a position for you,'” he said.
His access to work email remained long enough for him to see another message announcing company-wide layoffs. Within minutes, he was locked out, he said.
In all, Google slashed 12,000 jobs or about 6% of its workforce. Having watched the onslaught of layoffs in the tech industry, Bellack wasn’t surprised.
“It seemed like the thing all the cool kids were doing in Silicon Valley,” he said of the layoffs.
Google did not respond to a request for comment. In an email to employees last Friday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said: “This will mean saying goodbye to some incredibly talented people we worked hard to hire and have loved working with.”
The layoffs left Bellack “very torn,” he said. The forced exit clarified his status, allowing him to move on; but he felt badly for colleagues who hadn’t expected it.
“A lot of people had no idea that this was happening or that they might be involved,” he said. “For them, it’s obviously a shock.”
Bellack is not worried about his financial outlook, he said, characterizing his previous job as “aggressively compensated.” Further, he praised the severance package provided by the company, which gave departing employees a 16-week base compensation with an extra two weeks for every year of employment.
A new project already awaits, Bellack said. He has launched a consulting service that advises start-ups and other companies on how to grow.
The father of two sons, aged 9 and 14, Bellack looks forward to lunches with his wife and time with his kids, he said. Their first big move: Getting a dog.
“If you put that in the article, my 9-year-old will be excited,” he said. “It’ll mean I’ve firmly committed.”
Phoebe Gavin, Vox
Phoebe Gavin, 37, the former executive director of talent and development at digital news outlet Vox, was laid off by the company last week. But she had been preparing for something like this ever since a “very scary situation” nearly a decade ago, she said.
In 2014, Gavin lost her job at a different media company. Lacking any savings, she had to “put everything on my credit card to get to my next job,” she said. Since then, she said, she began placing 10% of every paycheck into savings and later cultivated a side gig as a career coach.
Last Friday, Gavin had a previously scheduled meeting with her boss, who told her she was being let go and that she should take the rest of the day off, she said. Vox Media, the parent company of Vox, laid off 130 workers, which amounts to 7% of its staff.
Gavin, who worked at Vox for a little more than a year, oversaw the internal experience of employees, so she understood what her manager could and couldn’t say about the decision. “I wouldn’t have expected her to tell me more,” she said.
The news surprised Gavin, but she knew she worked in a tumultuous business.
“It was a little bit of shock and a little bit of ‘well, I work in the media industry,'” she said.
Vox Media declined comment about the layoffs. In a memo to employees last Friday, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff cited “the challenging economic environment impacting our business and industry.”
After years of planning for a possible career setback, Gavin isn’t worried about her finances, she said. In fact, she’s ready to turn her side gig into a full-time job, having turned away clients from her career coaching business over the past six months.
“I’ve had to strike a balance of making sure the side hustle fit into side-hustle time — I don’t have to do that anymore,” she said. “Instead of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., I’ll work on it from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.”
Gavin, who is Black, said her commitment to protecting her career owes in part to her knowledge that widespread job losses disproportionately affect people of color and women.
“That’s something that as a society we clearly have to take strong steps to address,” she said. “The system is not going to improve fast enough to keep us safe as individuals.”
To weather the mental health challenges of job flux, Gavin says she will draw on therapy that has helped her assemble an “emotional toolbox,” she said, noting that a more flexible schedule will help her do stress-relieving activities.
“I’m mostly focused on being able to go to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s empty,” she said. “One of the things that helps is picking up heavy things and putting them down.”
(NEW YORK) — Disgraced crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried has made “recent attempts” to contact prospective witnesses in his criminal case, federal prosecutors said Friday in a letter to the judge that sought new conditions of his release.
Bankman-Fried has been free on a $250 million bond after he was charged with fraud and conspiracy following the collapse of the crypto platform he founded, FTX.
Prosecutors asked the judge to modify the conditions of the bond and order Bankman-Fried not to contact or communicate with current or former FTX or Alameda employees and not to use any encrypted messaging apps.
“The imposition of these new conditions is justified in light of the nature of the case, as well as the defendant’s recent attempts to contact prospective witnesses,” assistant United States Attorney Danielle Sassoon wrote in the government’s letter.
“It has recently come to the Government’s attention that the defendant has been in direct communication with the current General Counsel of FTX US who may be a witness at trial, and who is represented by counsel.”
The outreach was made through Signal, prosecutors said, and by email that said, “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”
Prosecutors said they were concerned the message proposed an alliance and suggested an effort to influence the general counsel’s potential testimony.
“This is particularly concerning given that the defendant is aware that Witness-1 has information that would tend to inculpate the defendant. The Government has interviewed Witness-1, who has firsthand knowledge of the defendant’s conduct during the charged conspiracies, including during the collapse of FTX in November 2022,” the letter said.
The defendant has also contacted other current and former FTX employees, prosecutors said.
There was no immediate response from the defense or the judge.
(NEW YORK) — Continued recession fears and a cascade of tech industry layoffs have drawn renewed attention to severance packages, the compensation offered to some departing employees.
Severance packages, which range widely in size and duration, offer newly unemployed workers a financial buffer as they face an uncertain job market.
But laid-off workers may not fully understand the terms of a severance package, or could feel pressure to accept the terms without looking them over closely, legal and career experts told ABC News.
As employees depart a company, they should be fully informed of the details of a separation and negotiate for the best outcome they can get, the experts added.
“If employers give money, there’s a carrot in front of employees,” Matt Blit, an attorney at employment law firm Levine and Blit, which handles severance cases, told ABC News. “Employees typically sign without even reading them.”
Here’s what you need to know about severance packages:
Why do companies offer severance?
Companies are not required by law to offer severance.
They provide ex-employees with financial and other benefits to blunt the damage caused by a termination that may be unrelated to a worker’s performance, experts told ABC News.
The move also helps companies minimize the public relations backlash that can result from layoffs, they said.
“It sends a message about how you take care of your people,” Alexandra Levitt, a career expert and author of the forthcoming book “Deep Talent,” told ABC News. “Severance is a very important part of that.”
In exchange, workers who accept severance agreements are often required to forgo publicly criticizing the company or bringing legal action against it, the experts said. In some instances, the agreements also stipulate that ex-employees cannot work at rival companies or seek business from the same clients, they added.
“Companies pay severance so that they never have to worry about an employee ever again,” Blit said. “Companies are not in the business of giving away money.”
What’s in a typical severance package?
Experts on severance cautioned there is no common template used for the agreements, leaving the onus on departing employees to ensure they understand a package before accepting it.
“There’s no such thing as a standard severance agreement,” Blit said.
Still, severance packages usually include some or all of a common set of offerings: financial payment, continued access to health care and other benefits, job-search assistance and mental health support.
A company may offer some benefits in lieu of others, the experts said. The wide variation between severance agreements highlights the importance of reading the terms or asking a lawyer to examine them.
“There are so many different angles that employers take,” Blit said.
How severance pay is calculated
The calculation behind the financial compensation offered in severance agreements varies from stingy to generous.
Favorable severance agreements offer one month’s worth of salary for every year of tenure with the company; while more frugal packages provide just one week’s worth of salary for each year, experts said.
If a laid-off employee worked for a company for five years, for instance, his or her compensation at the upper end of the range would amount to nearly a half year’s worth of pay.
In some cases, companies offer a base amount of compensation and an additional sum tied to one’s tenure. Google, which laid off 12,000 workers earlier this month, provided each employee with 16 weeks of severance pay, plus an additional two weeks for each year of tenure.
A federal law, called the WARN Act, mandates that large businesses give 60-day notice when undertaking a mass layoff. Some states, like Illinois and California, impose stronger versions of the nationwide law.
When layoffs must comply with such laws, companies either tell employees about the layoffs before they go into effect or keep workers on the payroll for two months afterward. If laid-off workers remain on the payroll, that compensation can be received separately from the pay offered in a severance package.
If a worker is set to receive a bonus, some employers pay a portion of that payout in the severance package, Blit said. Conversely, some employers demand repayment of a worker’s signing bonus if he or she is terminated before reaching a given tenure threshold, he said.
“If an employee signs on to get a $5,000 bonus and gets terminated within the first year, he may have to give that money back,” Blit said. “You can owe the employer money back.”
When do companies pay severance?
Companies typically pay severance in a single lump sum or over a series of payments that mimic how an employee received his or her salary, experts said.
Under some severance agreements, ex-employees must stop receiving financial compensation if they find a new job, giving reason for some employees to opt for a lump payment.
But the size and timeline of a severance payment carries different tax implications, which can significantly affect the take-home pay enjoyed by a departing worker, experts said.
How is severance taxed?
Severance is taxed in the same manner as wage or salary income.
If payment is received in a large sum, therefore, the recipient faces the higher taxes associated with the elevated tax bracket in which that payment falls.
“You have to be careful looking at a huge sum, keeping in mind that it’s going to be taxed at the same rate as income,” Levitt said. “It’s not a windfall — it’s taxed like any other income.”
Ex-employees who take the income as a continuation of their salary payment will end up paying less in taxes, Blit said.
By comparison, the tax payment required for a lump sum is “astronomical,” he said.
Can employees negotiate severance?
Severance experts encouraged departing employees to negotiate over their severance agreement since they have little to lose and potentially much to gain.
Laid-off workers can push for more compensation or a longer payment timeline, or they can try to exchange non-monetary benefits for monetary ones, Levitt said, adding that newly terminated employees should be sure to remain on good terms with their former employer.
“You don’t have to be rude about it, but you can see if there’s room for negotiation and just do your best,” she said.
When asked whether laid-off workers should negotiate over the terms, Blit said, “Always.”
When employers offer outplacement services, or job-search assistance, laid-off workers should try to exchange that benefit for its equivalent monetary value, he added.
“A lot of employers do provide some outplacement services – I find what employers typically provide to be kind of worthless,” he said. “I usually tell clients to get the money value of it.”
The negotiation over severance should resemble the initial push and pull over a newly hired worker’s salary and benefits, Levitt said.
“There’s negotiation at the start of engagement with an employer and negotiation at the end,” Levitt said.
(NEW YORK) — Human-made chemicals known as PFAS are back in the spotlight after the feminine hygiene company Thinx settled a class-action lawsuit earlier this month for millions of dollars.
The lawsuit was brought against Thinx by customers who claimed testing showed the brand’s period underwear — advertised by the company as sustainable, organic and reusable — contained PFAS, otherwise known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or forever chemicals.
PFAS are manufactured chemicals that have been used in products like nonstick cookware, cosmetics and water-repellent clothing for decades, but have more recently been discovered to cause adverse health effects in some instances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the United States, manufacturers aren’t required to identify PFAS on labels.
Thinx settled with the five plaintiffs late last year for up to $5 million, but a recently-launched website has reignited interest in the case and restarted the conversation on what consumers need to know about PFAS.
The website, Thinxunderwearsettlement.com, shares details on who is eligible to file a claim to be able to receive part of the settlement money.
Here is what to know about the Thinx settlement and the allegations over PFAS.
What led to the lawsuit against Thinx?
An article published in 2020 by Sierra magazine first brought attention to the ingredients in Thinx products.
The article’s author, Jessian Choy, had Thinx menstrual underwear and a similar product from another brand tested by Dr. Graham Peaslee, a physics professor at the University of Notre Dame, whose research focuses on PFAS.
Peaslee found the presence of PFAS in the Thinx products at “high levels,” “especially on the inside layers of the crotch,” according to Choy’s article.
Following the article’s publication, several lawsuits were filed against Thinx, and eventually those cases were merged into the one class-action lawsuit against the company that was settled last year.
“The presence of these chemicals contradicts all of Thinx’s unvarying representations that the product is nontoxic, harmless, sustainable, organic, environmentally friendly, and otherwise safe for women and the environment,” the plaintiffs alleged in the lawsuit, also claiming the company “knowingly and willfully concealed and misrepresented the true nature of Thinx Underwear.”
Erin J. Ruben, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told ABC News that the lawsuit focused on how Thinx marketed its products. She said the settlement in the case is “about more than just refunds.”
“Thinx has agreed to make changes to its marketing, in addition to taking other measures to ensure that PFAS is not intentionally added to the product, which we believe will have lasting impact on consumers,” Ruben said in a statement. “I also think it’s important that consumers understand that this case was about how Thinx’s products were marketed — not whether they caused harm to consumers.”
What is Thinx’s response to the lawsuit?
The lawsuit settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by Thinx Inc., which includes the brands Thinx, Thinx Teens and Speax.
The company denies the allegations in the lawsuit, and denies it did “anything improper or unlawful,” according to the settlement.
“Consumer health and product safety are top priorities for Thinx, and we stand by the quality, efficacy and safety of our products,” a company spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. “The lawsuit is related to how products were marketed and not on product safety or any adverse health effects. PFAS has never been part of the brand’s product design and we continue to take measures to help ensure these substances are not added to our products.”
The statement continued, “While the settlement included no admission of wrongdoing by Thinx, we have chosen to resolve this matter so that we can focus our attention on doing what the brand does best — bringing innovative, safe and comfortable leak protection underwear to our consumers.”
How common are PFAS in products?
PFAS began to be used in manufacturing in the 1950s, and for decades showed up in products ranging from shampoo and dental floss to cosmetics, fast food wrappers, pizza boxes, water-resistant clothing, umbrellas and in cleaning products like stain removers, according to the CDC.
It has only been in the last 20 years that further research has shown the dangers of PFAS, according to Peaslee, the Notre Dame professor who tested the Thinx products.
Because of their ability to last forever and because of their past widespread use, PFAS are still present all around, Peaslee explained.
“These things are so inert that they last for thousands of years, and they break down to the simplest products, which are all the fluorinated compounds,” Peaslee told ABC News. “And these will actually get into your body and they start piling up, so everybody in North America already has millions of these chemicals in their blood.”
In addition to absorbing the chemicals from products, people can also be exposed to PFAS through environmental factors like drinking water, accidentally ingesting soil or dust and eating exposed animal proteins, according to the CDC.
PFAS are not banned at the federal level in the U.S., but some states have taken action to restrict the use of PFAS.
How harmful are PFAS to a person’s health?
Research shows that exposure to high levels of PFAS can lead to adverse health effects, but it is not yet known exactly what the level of exposure is that leads to different health outcomes, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
So far, research has shown that “exposure to certain levels of PFAS” may lead to everything from developmental delays in children and increased risk of some cancers to increased risk of obesity and high cholesterol, according to the EPA.
In women, exposure to PFAS may lead to difficulty getting pregnant, hormone issues and increased high blood pressure when pregnant, according to the EPA.
Peaslee noted that wearing a period product that contains PFAS is not going to harm a person in the short-term, but it may contribute to a bigger issue.
He said the risk of PFAS exposure is higher in certain areas of the body, including the groin, neck and underarms.
“No, they’re not going to die from their period underwear by wearing them today, but they will increase their risk of exposure to these chemicals,” he said. “And these chemicals you don’t really want in your body, and they’re already there.”
Peaslee continued, “For most people, especially those with children or of childbearing age, you’d like to not be exposed to an extra chemical, and this is one that we can avoid.”
How can PFAS be avoided?
Since companies do not have to list the presence of PFAS on labels, Peaslee suggests keeping an eye out on products that have an extra label showing they are PFA-free.
“When you get a label that says ‘no intentional PFAS added,’ that company has done some diligence,” he said. “They’re putting an extra 5-cent label on it to say, you know, ‘We checked.'”
Peaslee said consumers can also watch for products marketed with words like “water-resistant” and “long-lasting,” as those are two qualities that PFAS are used to help produce.
“You can look at those as indicators that you might have a problem,” he said. “But you don’t know for sure until somebody does a test or until a product deems itself and has been tested to be PFA-free, and that means the company has done some tests.”
The EPA says to be aware of the water and food you consume and ensure they do not come from contaminated sources.
While individuals do not need to be tested for PFAS exposure, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends undergoing regular routine health screenings and following a physician’s guidance.
What do I do if I own Thinx underwear?
The settlement applies to people who purchased certain types of Thinx underwear in the U.S. between Nov. 12, 2016, and Nov. 28, 2022, according to the settlement website.
People who submit a claim have options ranging from receiving a cash refund up to $21 to a voucher for 35% off future purchases.
People also have the option to exclude themselves from the settlement, which would then make them free to file their own lawsuit should they desire.
ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy and Jacqueline Laurean Yates contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. economy grew robustly at the end of last year, defying recession fears and weathering an aggressive series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, government data showed.
U.S. gross domestic product grew by a 2.9% annualized rate over the three months ending in December, according to data released Thursday. It marked a slowdown from 3.2% growth in the previous quarter.
The economy expanded despite interest rate hikes imposed last year by the Federal Reserve that aim to slow price increases by cooling the economy and choking off demand.
The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
The gross domestic product data arrives days before the Federal Reserve decides whether to impose another interest rate hike, its first opportunity to do so this year. Last month, the Fed raised its short-term borrowing rate 0.5%, slowing the pace from previous rate hikes.
Economic activity shrank a combined 2.2% over the first six months of last year, marking two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, which many consider shorthand for identifying a downturn as a recession.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, a research organization seen as the formal authority for identifying recessions, uses a more complicated definition that takes into account an array of factors. It did not declare a recession last year.
The labor market has proven resilient. Hiring remained strong last month as employers added 233,000 jobs and wages grew a robust 4.6% compared to a year earlier.
Meanwhile, inflation has softened. Consumer prices rose 6.5% last month compared to a year ago, extending a months-long slowdown of price hikes after reaching a 40-year high in June.
Still, most economists expect a recession later this year, as interest rate hikes weigh on the economy, according to a survey released by Bloomberg last week. Forecasters expect gross domestic product to fall over the second and third quarters of this year, the survey found.
Despite the robust job market, growing evidence suggests the Fed’s rate hikes have put the brakes on some economic activity.
Home sales fell for the 11th consecutive month in November, reaching their lowest rate since November 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
(WASHINGTON) — Investors, business leaders and everyday Americans will be keeping a close watch on the release of gross domestic product data on Thursday, as inflation eases but recession fears still loom.
The data for the final three months of 2022 will show whether the economy continued to expand or reverted back to the contraction experienced over the first half of last year.
Forecasters expect that the U.S. economy will have grown by a 2.8% annualized rate. If the report is in line with expectations, it would mark a slowdown from 3.2% growth in the previous quarter but would show that the economy averted a downturn.
The data will reveal how the economy fared amid an aggressive series of interest rate hikes imposed last year by the Federal Reserve.
The rate hikes aim to slow price increases by cooling the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
The gross domestic product data arrives days before the Federal Reserve decides whether to impose another interest rate hike, its first opportunity to do so this year. Last month, the Fed raised its short-term borrowing rate 0.5%, slowing the pace from previous rate hikes.
Economic activity shrank a combined 2.2% over the first six months of last year, marking two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, which many consider shorthand for identifying a downturn as a recession.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, a research organization seen as the formal authority for identifying recessions, uses a more complicated definition that takes into account an array of factors. It did not declare a recession last year.
The labor market has proven resilient. Hiring remained strong last month as employers added 233,000 jobs and wages grew a robust 4.6% compared to a year earlier.
Meanwhile, inflation has softened. Consumer prices rose 6.5% last month compared to a year ago, extending a months-long slowdown of price hikes after reaching a 40-year high in June.
Still, most economists expect a recession later this year, as interest rate hikes weigh on the economy, according to a survey released by Bloomberg last week. Forecasters expect gross domestic product to fall over the second and third quarters of this year, the survey found.
Despite the robust job market, growing evidence suggests the Fed’s rate hikes have put the brakes on some economic activity.
Home sales fell for the 11th consecutive month in November, reaching their lowest rate since November 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
(NEW YORK) — Barbie is honoring the life and legacy of Bessie Coleman with a new doll.
Coleman, whose birthday falls on Jan. 26, was the first Black and Native American female aviator and the first Black person to ever earn an international pilot’s license.
The late American pioneer is being honored as part of the toymaker’s Inspiring Women line of dolls for inspiring generations of women and people of color to explore a career in aviation.
Barbie teamed up with Coleman’s great niece Gigi Coleman, the president of The Bessie Coleman Aviation All-Stars, to ensure the aviator’s legacy was represented in its truest form.
The doll wears a brown hat emblazoned with her historic initials — “BC” — an olive green belted aviator suit and lace-up boots, much like Coleman wore.
“As someone who has dedicated much of my life to encouraging youth of all backgrounds to explore careers in aviation, my family and I commend Barbie for expanding my great aunt’s legacy in such an overwhelming tribute, with a Bessie Coleman Inspiring Women doll,” Gigi Coleman said in a statement. “Keeping Bessie’s legacy alive has always been a labor of love for my family, and we are proud to recognize her determination and accomplishments for Black women in aviation and continue to share my great aunt’s pioneering spirit with fans of all ages.”
She added, “We hope through this doll more people will discover Bessie’s story and be inspired. Stories have power, I grew up on anecdotes of my great-aunt’s courage and look forward to sharing them in my upcoming book.”
Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and global head of Barbie & Dolls at Mattel, also spoke highly of the company’s latest launch.
“Bessie is a remarkable icon to inspire children everywhere to soar to greater heights,” she said in a statement.
The Bessie Coleman Inspiring Women Doll is now available to shop at several mass retailers.
(NEW YORK) — A viral controversy over the use of facial recognition technology to bar customers from New York City performance venues has drawn the attention of the state’s top cop.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday sent a letter to Madison Square Garden Entertainment — the company that owns venues like Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden – requesting information about the policy and raising the possibility that it could be illegal, James’ office said.
The letter also questions whether the facial technology is reliable and what safeguards are in place to avoid bias and discrimination, her office added.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, lawyer Kelly Conlon tried to join her daughter’s Girl Scout troop at a Rockettes performance but the venue scanned her face and barred her entrance.
Conlon reportedly appeared on an “attorney exclusion list” created by Radio City Music Hall’s parent company, MSG Entertainment, which bans employees at law firms engaged in litigation with the company, even if a given individual isn’t involved directly.
In this case, Conlon wasn’t involved directly, but her firm was engaged in litigation against one of the company’s restaurants, the New York Times reported. The incident at Radio City Music Hall was first reported by a New York affiliate of NBC.
In a separate incident at Madison Square Garden last month, another attorney was removed from a basketball game with the use of facial recognition software for the same reason as Conlon, the New York Post reported.
“MSG Entertainment cannot fight their legal battles in their own arenas,” James said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall are world-renowned venues and should treat all patrons who purchased tickets with fairness and respect,” she added. “Anyone with a ticket to an event should not be concerned that they may be wrongfully denied entry based on their appearance, and we’re urging MSG Entertainment to reverse this policy.”
MSG Entertainment did not respond to a request for comment on the letter from James.
In a statement to ABC News earlier this month, a spokesperson for MSG Entertainment defended the company’s use of facial recognition software.
“Facial recognition technology is a useful tool widely used throughout the country, including the sports and entertainment industry, retail locations, casinos and airports, to protect the safety of the people that visit and work at those locations,” the spokesperson said.
“Our venues are worldwide destinations and several sit on major transit hubs in the heart of New York,” the spokesperson added. “We have always made it clear to our guests and to the public that we use facial recognition as one of our tools to provide a safe and secure environment for our customers and ourselves.”
(NEW YORK) — Credit card debt is often easy to pile on, but hard to pay off. For Lisa Samalonis, smart credit card saving was the key to rebuilding her life after divorce.
“It was very important for me to preserve some of that money so that I could put it down for a down payment and also to preserve through the divorce, to preserve my credit score so that I would be eligible for a mortgage,” Samalonis told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
The New Jersey mother said she had to adjust to living as a single mother of two on one income, so she decided to go on what she calls a “credit card fast.”
“Not using my credit card in the beginning was a key factor in that, because when you’re using cash or debit, you can see [that] you don’t have enough money,” she said. “It’s having the awareness to know that you’re actually spending more than you have.”
With the help of her new trick, Samalonis was able to buy her own home. She shared her top three steps to becoming financially free.
Break down your finances
Samalonis said she bought a notebook to write down her expenses, prioritizing what was most important.
“The ones that were most important at the top, like food and my mortgage or housing. And then down the list of things that were less important,” she said, adding that she was able to grant her own freedom by being honest with herself.
“By kind of breaking it down, and really being honest or getting real with myself, that actually gave me control as I went forward,” she said.
Use zero-based budgeting
Samalonis said if you must use a credit card, be sure to continue to allocate your expenses so your budget remains accurate.
“When you use your credit card, you take money that you have in your account and you put it into a category or you allocate it to what you’ve just spent,” she said.
Plan ahead
Finally, Samalonis said the best way to be prepared for the “credit card fast” is to plan ahead. Unexpected expenses will always come up, but you can plan a savings cushion to help cover some of those surprises.
“When unexpected expenses came up, either if it was things that were owed or if it was things that we wanted to do, I tried to plan ahead and so I would be able to save money each month towards that goal,” Samalonis said.
