Business

(NEW YORK) — More than half of Americans are considering taking on extra jobs to be able to pay for everyday expenses and meet the rising cost of living as inflation remains high.

Employees in the U.S. are combating the soaring prices of essentials like groceries, housing, and gas by looking for ways to increase their incomes and cut down on expenses, according to a new study by Qualtrics, a software technology company. The survey of more than 1,000 full-time employees found that 38% of workers have looked for a second job, while another 14% are planning to do so.

“With budgets tightening, workers are searching for ways to meet the rising cost of living, including finding new jobs,” said Qualtrics Chief Workplace Psychologist Dr. Benjamin Granger.

Working parents are especially pinched as nearly 70% said their pay isn’t keeping up with costs, the poll states. About 47% of employees with children have looked for a second job, higher than the rate of workers overall. The cost of raising a child through high school has surged to more than $300,000, up roughly $26,000 from two years ago, according to a recent Brookings Institution estimate.

It’s not unusual for American workers to have multiple jobs, especially with more people tapping into the gig economy and doing independently-managed work like freelancing or growing a side hustle. As of September, 7.8 million Americans are working more than one job, making up 4.9% of the total workforce, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. A record 440,000 Americans were working two full-time positions in August, compared to 308,000 in February 2020.

The holiday hiring season could offer job-seekers opportunities to boost their incomes. Searches for seasonal positions on Indeed are at the highest level since 2019. In contrast, demand for holiday workers has cooled down from last year as retailers anticipate weaker sales, but still remains above pre-pandemic levels. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is one of several companies that have announced cuts to its holiday payroll in anticipation of weaker sales.

“High inflation and easing COVID-19 concerns may be prompting more people to look for seasonal work this winter. At the same time, employers are pulling back from 2021’s hot holiday hiring levels and offering fewer incentives to prospective workers — perhaps due to recession concerns,” Indeed’s statement reads.

Tiffany Perkins, a marketing professional at a Brooklyn private school, decided to take on a part-time job in September as a restaurant hostess. While she has always done side gigs like offering doula services, selling homemade beauty products, and participating in focus groups for extra money, it isn’t enough to cover her bills as the price of food and utilities rises.

“I budget to zero, I have a very tight paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. I’ve gotten used to it. I can do odd jobs, get a little extra money and be fine,” said Perkins. “Saving has always been difficult for me, I am a single mom so I’ve always been hand to mouth in prioritizing a certain lifestyle for my child and his future. As opposed to securing my immediate financial goals I always think more long term. I feel like I’ve always been in survival mode, but lately it’s survival times 10 because it just seems almost impossible.”

With the new commitment, she now works seven days a week and admits to being exhausted, but she’s glad to be able to catch up on necessary expenses and afford to buy her son a gift for his birthday.

“That weekly pay can really fill the gap for those weeks when I don’t get a paycheck from my full time job and is helping me to be able to stay afloat and really catch up on some things that have been backed up for so long,” said Perkins. “I may not be able to get ahead, but at least I can cover what needs to be covered without robbing Peter to pay Paul and make things stretch.”

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Clorox is issuing a recall Tuesday of roughly 37 million Pine-Sol products over a possible bacteria contamination.

The recall affects “Pine-Sol Scented Multi-Surface Cleaners in “Lavender Clean,” “Sparkling Wave,” and “Lemon Fresh” scents; “CloroxPro Pine-Sol All Purpose Cleaners” in “Lavender Clean,” “Sparkling Wave,” “Lemon Fresh” and “Orange Energy” scents; and “Clorox Professional Pine-Sol Lemon Fresh” cleaners.

Original Pine-Sol (Pine scent) is not included in this recall, according to officials.

The recall affects 37 million products that were sold between January 2021 and September 2022, which may contain the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, according to the CPSC.

“People with weakened immune systems or external medical devices who are exposed to Pseudomonas aeruginosa face a risk of serious infection that may require medical treatment. The bacteria can enter the body if inhaled, through the eyes, or through a break in the skin. People with healthy immune systems are usually not affected by the bacteria,” the agency said in a statement.

Customers can identify the affected products by looking for date codes that are printed on the bottles. Customers with products with date codes labeled “A4” and followed by a five-digit number less than 22249 should dispose of the product in its container with household trash and contact Pine-Sol for a full refund of the purchase price, with receipt, or of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, without receipt, according to the CPSC.

Affected customers can get more information by calling Pine-Sol toll-free at (855) 378-4982, by email at PineSolRecalls@inmar.com, or online at pinesolrecall.com and Pinesol.com by clicking on “Recall Information.”

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(NEW YORK) — This could be the last chance for fast food fans to get their hands on a McDonald’s McRib as the golden arches prepares to say goodbye to the saucy sandwich.

Starting Oct. 31, the seasoned, boneless pork sensation that’s slathered in tangy barbecue sauce and topped with slivered onions and pickles, will be back on menus for a limited time.

“We can’t say for certain what the future holds. But for now, fans should enjoy the McRib while they can, because it won’t be returning nationwide anytime soon,” a spokesperson for McDonald’s said in a statement to ABC News’ Good Morning America.

“After three straight years headlining McDonald’s nationwide menu each fall, the iconic sandwich is embarking on a ‘Farewell Tour,'” McDonald’s said in a press release. “Like any true farewell tour, we’re hoping this isn’t a ‘goodbye’ … because as our McRib stans have experienced time and time again: you never know when – or if – the McRib is coming back.”

The now-famous sandwich first hit menus in 1980, got a mini version in 2003 and prompted a McRib locator in 2008 so fans could track down which locations had it available. In 2021, McDonald’s USA created it’s first NFT offering a digital version of the McRib.

The sandwich may be gone, but for superfans who hope to enjoy more of the McRib legacy, McDonald’s is launching a line of merch.

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(NEW YORK) — Adidas on Tuesday said it has terminated its relationship with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, immediately and will cease production of Yeezy branded products.

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said in a press release. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

There has been growing pressure on big-name brands to cut ties with the rapper after he made antisemitic remarks on Twitter a few weeks ago.

The rapper later followed with more offensive comments against the Jewish community on Revolt TV’s Drink Champs in a since-deleted interview.

Ye’s comments against the Jewish community were also referenced over the weekend by a group of Los Angeles neo-Nazis who hung antisemitic flyers on a 405 freeway overpass.

In addition to Ye’s remarks against the Jewish community, another recent controversy has seen the Donda rapper sporting a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt during his surprise Yeezy Season 9 show in Paris along with conservative political commentator Candace Owens.

The phrase has been described by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist hate slogan that originated in 2015 as a response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter. The groups note that the phrase has been commonly used by white supremacist groups such as the Aryan Renaissance Society and the Ku Klux Klan on everything from promotional materials to campaigns.

Responding to the backlash over the T-shirts, Ye wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post, “Here’s my latest response when people ask me why I made a tee that says white lives matter… THEY DO.”

Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency, also known as CAA, announced Monday that it would no longer represent the rapper. Film and television studio MRC also said it would be shelving a documentary on West, saying in a statement that it “cannot support any content that amplifies his platform.”

Several reports have also stated that brands such as Balenciaga will no longer work with Ye.

Ye’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, along with many other public figures have stood in solidarity with the Jewish community following his antisemitic remarks.

“Hate speech is never OK or excusable,” Kardashian tweeted on Monday. “I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”

Kendall Jenner, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Schumer, John Legend and others have also spoken out against Ye’s comments aimed at the Jewish community.

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(NEW YORK) — Unilever recently announced a voluntary recall of 19 popular dry shampoo aerosol products sold in the United States due to concerns about benzene, a chemical known to cause cancer.

Exposure to benzene, which is classified as a human carcinogen, can occur through inhalation, ingestion, or through skin contact and can result in cancers including leukemia and blood cancers, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Humans are exposed to benzene daily through things like tobacco smoke and detergents, but exposure can be considered dangerous depending on the dose and duration of contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unilever said that it is pulling the products “out of an abundance of caution” and that the company has not yet received any reports of adverse event relating to the recall to date.

The recalled products were produced before October 2021 and retailers have been notified to pull the affected products from shelves.

A complete list of the affected products and consumer codes can be found here. No other products from Unilever or its brands are impacted by this recall, the company stated in a press release.

The list of affected products include:

Dove

Dove Dry Shampoo Volume and Dullness

Dove Dry Shampoo Fresh Coconut

Dove Dry Shampoo Fresh and Floral

Dove Dry Shampoo Ultra Clean

Dove Dry Shampoo Invisible

Dove Dry Shampoo Detox and Purify

Dove Dry Shampoo Clarifying Charcoal

Dove Dry Shampoo Go Active

Nexxus

Nexxus Dry Shampoo Refreshing Mist

Nexxus Inergy Foam Shampoo

Suave

Suave Dry Shampoo Hair Refresher

Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo Refresh and Revive

TRESemmé

TRESemmé Dry Shampoo Volumizing

TRESemmé Dry Shampoo Fresh and Clean

TRESemmé Pro Pure Dry Shampoo

Bed Head

Bed Head Oh Bee Hive Dry Shampoo

Bed Head Oh Bee Hive Volumizing Dry Shampoo

Bed Head Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo

Rockaholic

Bed Head Rockaholic Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo

The recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Unilever urged consumers to stop using the affected aerosol dry shampoo products immediately and visit the company website for eligible product reimbursements.

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced on Friday that 7,560 pounds of Italian pork sausage products from Bob Evans Farms Foods, Inc. were being recalled over potential contamination with extraneous materials, specifically thin blue rubber.

The raw Italian pork sausage impacted by the recall was produced Sept. 8, 2022, with a use or freeze by date of Nov. 26, 2022.

Click here to view the recalled labels of the 1-pound containers.

The affected Bob Evans Italian Sausage is labeled with lot code XEN3663466 and has a time stamp between 14:43 and 15:25, the FSIS stated. The products also bear establishment number “EST. 6785” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

“The problem was discovered after the firm notified FSIS it had received consumer complaints reporting thin blue pieces of rubber in the product,” the recall notice stated. “There have 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 FSIS added that it is “concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers” and advised anyone who’s purchased the products “not to consume them.”

Consumers should throw out or return the products to the original place of purchase.

“FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers,” the agency said.

Bob Evans Foods, Inc. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the recall.

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(NEW YORK) — Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump’s namesake family real-estate business, which was charged last year by prosecutors in Manhattan, New York with orchestrating a years-long scheme to evade taxes.

The Trump Organization compensated certain executives with off-the-book perks — including rent, utilities and garage expenses at a luxury apartment building, private school tuition and leases for luxury cars — that were never accounted for on the company’s payroll taxes, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

“This was a 15-year-long tax fraud scheme,” Carey Dunn, then-general counsel at the Manhattan DA’s office, said when the indictment was unsealed last summer. “It was orchestrated by the most senior executives.”

The company has pleaded not guilty and Trump has dismissed the investigation as a “hoax.” A spokesperson for the Trump Organization previously said in a statement that the company will “look forward to having our day in court.”

A corporate defendant cannot serve prison time. A conviction could require the Trump Organization to pay a maximum fine of $10,000 and, potentially, the taxes allegedly skirted.

More significant, according to authorities, are the potential collateral consequences that could come with a conviction. Existing contracts could be voided if a counterparty has rules against doing business with felons, and banks could consider calling in loans or altogether terminating their relationship with the Trump Organization.

“One major issue when considering a corporate conviction is reputational harm,” said Daniel R. Alonso, a partner in Buckley’s New York office and formerly the chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

On the other hand, said Alonso, “In this case, I’m not sure the Trump Organization’s reputation could be harmed much more than it has been.”

The trial, which is expected to last into early December, comes as Trump faces a half-dozen other investigations into his business practices, his efforts to overturn the Georgia vote, his alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack, and the removal of documents with classification markings from the White House.

Among those testifying in the Trump Organization trial will be the company’s longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty last month after being charged as part of the alleged scheme.

The longtime CFO pleaded guilty to all 15 counts he faced, including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, grand larceny and falsifying business records. He conceded that he skirted taxes on nearly $2 million in income, including fringe benefits like rent, luxury cars and private school tuition for his grandchildren.

Weisselberg, who first met Trump in the 1970s when he began working for his father, was required to testify against the Trump Organization as part of his plea deal, and to serve five months in jail.

“The case against [the Trump Organization] is dramatically strengthened,” prosecutor Josh Steinglass said of Weisselberg’s guilty plea at a hearing in the case in September.

“During the operation of the scheme, the defendants arranged for Weisselberg to receive indirect employee compensation from the Trump Organization in the approximate amount of $1.76 million … in ways that enabled the corporate defendants to avoid reporting it to the tax authorities,” the indictment against Weisselberg said.

The charges are a “disgrace” and “shameful,” Trump told ABC News last year after the indictment was unsealed, calling Weisselberg “a tremendous person.”

The indictment said that, beginning in 2005, Weisselberg used the corporation’s bank account to pay the rent for his apartment, and he and others paid their utility bills using the corporation’s account. The indictment also accused Weisselberg of concealing “indirect compensation” by using payments from the Trump Organization to cover nearly $360,000 in upscale private school payments for his family, and for nearly $200,000 in luxury car leases.

“Weisselberg intentionally caused the indirect compensation payments to be omitted from his personal tax returns, despite knowing that those payments represented taxable income and were treated as compensation by the Trump Corporation in internal records,” the indictment said.

The rest of the case against the Trump Organization is based largely on documents, including spreadsheets and charts, along with other accounting materials. Prosecutors say their challenge will be to spin a compelling narrative for the jury to follow.

The prosecution will be led by Steinglass, who joined the prosecution team from the district attorney’s violent crime division, and Susan Hoffinger, the head of the DA’s investigation division.

A corporate tax fraud case was not what prosecutors were after when they first filed charges against Weisselberg last summer. Sources have told ABC News that prosecutors had hoped Weisselberg would turn on Trump as part of a larger criminal investigation into the former president’s business practices that remains ongoing.

But the plea deal that Weisselberg agreed to contains no requirement that he cooperate in the criminal case against Trump himself, which centers on whether Trump knowingly misled tax authorities, lenders and insurance brokers by providing inaccurate financial statements about the value of his real estate portfolio.

Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, has decried the investigation as politically motivated.

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(NEW YORK) — Barilla Pasta is being sued for its marketing as “Italy’s No. 1 brand of pasta.”

A lawsuit filed last year by customers Matthew Sinatro and Jessica Prost claims that the slogan in question “leads reasonable consumers to believe that Barilla’s products are made and/or manufactured in Italy using ingredients from Italy.”

Sinatro and Prost, who said they bought one box of angel hair and two boxes of spaghetti, respectively, claim in the lawsuit that they purchased Barilla thinking the contents were made in Italy. They also claim the colors of the Italian flag and imagery “further reinforces the notion that the products ‘are authentic pastas from Italy.” The duo are also challenging “the packaging for 52 additional Barilla-brand pastas across several sub-brands: Classic Blue Box, Collezione Artisanal, Gluten Free, Veggie, and Whole Grain,” which they did not purchase.

In a motion to dismiss, Barilla argued that the slogan is a registered trademark and “its utility is to exclusively identify Barilla (not Italy) as the source of the product.”

Barilla argued that “no reasonable consumer could be deceived” by their packaging because all 54 products — which includes Barilla-brand pastas from several sub-brands — “are conspicuously marked ‘Made in the USA’ with the location of Barilla’s headquarters in Illinois.”

While the statement appears on the blue cardboard boxes, Barilla also states on its website that its pasta “sold in the United States is made in our plants in Ames, Iowa and Avon, New York, with a few exceptions. Barilla Tortellini and Barilla Oven Ready Lasagne are made in Italy.”

When the company first opened plants in the U.S., the website states, “the Barilla family was very concerned about maintaining Barilla’s high quality standards” and ensured that the machines used to make pasta in those facilities were the same as those used in the Parma, Italy plant.

“The recipe and the wheat blend are the same as that used in Parma, Italy. Barilla purchases its wheat from around the world, ending up with the best wheat available,” the site reads.

On Monday, Judge Donna M. Ryu denied in part Barilla’s motion to dismiss and said the lawsuit can proceed.

“As Plaintiffs note, Barilla asks the court to assume that consumers would solely perceive the Challenged Representation to mean that the products at issue are part of the Barilla brand, and not that they are made in Italy from Italian ingredients,” Ryu wrote. “In other words, Barilla asks the court to decide as a matter of law that the Challenged Representation can mean only one thing. However, Plaintiffs have alleged that the Challenged Representation appears with the colors of the Italian flag, and that this imagery further reinforces the notion that the products ‘are authentic pastas from Italy.'”

Ryu also rejected the company’s argument that the case should be dismissed because its products “are conspicuously marked ‘Made in the USA’ with the location of Barilla’s headquarters in Illinois,” stating that the materials on which that argument rests “are not properly before the court.” Elsewhere in the order, Ryu stated that those materials — including photos of its packaging and nutrition label — were “barely legible” and “purportedly cut and pasted from third party websites, accompanied by typed captions that do not appear to have been part of the original webpages.”

ABC News’ Good Morning America has reached out to both Barilla and Clarkson Law Firm, which is representing the plaintiffs, for comment on the decision and will update with a response.

The order allows the case to move forward, but also allows Barilla to continue using the slogan as the case proceeds.

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(NEW YORK) — Just weeks away from the 2022 midterm elections, a senior Google official said Wednesday that the company hasn’t seen the same style of hacking from groups backed by the governments of China and Iran as during the 2020 election.

Speaking with reporters, Shane Huntley, the senior director Google’s Threat Analysis Group, compared the current level of activity to past reports from the company that Chinese and Iranian actors targeted email accounts related to the campaigns for then-candidate Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump in 2020.

“We haven’t seen that this year,” Huntley said. “We’re watching very closely.”

“It’s so far relatively quiet on the hacking front,” he said.

But, he added, outside groups remained focused on disinformation: “There’s a lot happening behind the scenes, but we haven’t seen that sort of cyberattack nature that we’ve sort of have seen in previous years.”

During the 2020 campaign, Google went public with what it said were documented attempts by Chinese and Iranian hackers to compromise email accounts for Biden and Trump campaign staff.

The efforts appeared to be unsuccessful — but were a part of what federal government officials described then as ongoing attempts by foreign countries to interfere in domestic elections. (Both China and Iran have in the past denied accusations of cyberattacks on U.S. entities.)

Of election security, Google’s Huntley said Wednesday that major efforts were being made regarding that and disinformation.

Google officials on Wednesday also offered a broader look at personal cyber security.

Heather Adkins, Google’s vice president of security engineering, told reporters that in the next five to 10 years, “We will see the death of the password.”

She added that Google would continue to iterate on things like “security keys, passkeys that the authentication experience.” In May, Apple, Google and Microsoft announced a joint effort to expand support for passwordless sign-in across devices and platforms.

“The reality is that everyone’s gonna get hacked at some point,” Adkins said. “And the differentiator will become how quickly we recover from that. And you actually see that in Ukraine.”

Noting the cyberattack on the American satellite company Viasat in the early days of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, earlier this year, Adkins said the firm was “actually able to recover very quickly, quickly enough to put their feet back on the ground and then resist the invasion.”

Huntley, the security official, said that Google has been able to to help Ukraine and Ukrainian government officials protect themselves amid the conflict, thus allowing the Eastern European nation to “take direct actions because we were actually able to help out.”

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(NEW YORK) — Eggo has a new product this holiday season that you won’t find in the frozen foods aisle.

Kellogg’s waffle brand collaborated with Sugarlands Distilling Co. to craft a sweet churned cream, rum, cinnamon and nutmeg boozy beverage that they’re calling Eggo Nog Appalachian Sippin’ Cream.

This new “Eggo-inspired eggnog liqueur” is said to pair perfectly with the beloved frozen waffles and gives grown-ups a chance to “L’eggo during the most chaotic time of the year.”

Sugarlands master distiller Greg Eidam told ABC News’ Good Morning America they amped up the recipe for the classic holiday drink to set their product apart.

“We use a rum base for our Eggo Nog, which has a slightly sweeter profile than some traditional boozy eggnogs,” he said. “Our team worked very hard to ensure the taste was reminiscent of classic eggnog, while also complementing the flavors you expect from an Eggo waffle. … Plus, ours pairs naturally with a perfectly toasted Eggo waffle.”

Eidam said the frozen waffles are a household staple for his grandkids as well as himself.

“They’re one of my favorite indulgences after a late night at the distillery,” he said, adding that “collaborating with Eggo to create Eggo Nog was a great deal of fun” — both personally and as a business opportunity for the Tennessee-based distilling company.

According to early tasters, Eidam said the response so far “has been tremendous.”

“We hope parents enjoy the product and find fun ways to incorporate it into their evening ‘me time,’ this holiday season,” he said, with just over 60 days to go until Christmas.

Eggo Nog will be available in select retailers nationwide throughout the holiday season. Consumers can locate a retailer online here.

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