(NEW YORK) — Spicy foods deliver a unique feeling — not to be confused with flavor — and for those with pepper-preferential palates and with a wide range of capsaicin-filled foods, fast casual restaurants are tapping into the hot and tingly sensations when crafting new menu items to entice their heat-loving customers.
Shake Shack is on a hot streak with its slate of fiery foods, launching a new hot menu that includes the return of the fan-favorite Hot Chicken Sandwich.
In addition to the Hot Chicken Sandwich, executive chef and vice president of culinary innovation John Karangis created the new Spicy Shackmeister Burger, Spicy Fries with Ranch Sauce, and Spicy Cheese Fries with Ranch Sauce — all made with the signature Shake Shack hot pepper seasoning blend and balanced out by other fresh ingredients to calm and cool the palate.
The Hot Chicken Sandwich and Spicy Shackmeister Burger will be available for a limited time at Shack locations nationwide starting Friday, Sept. 8, and for fans who want an early taste, they can order now via the Shake Shack app.
Check out the full menu, descriptions and pricing details below:
Shake Shack’s New Hot Menu
Hot Chicken Sandwich: This sandwich is on a hot streak, returning to the menu for the fourth time. It’s made with crispy, white-meat chicken breast spiced with a hot pepper blend, topped with pickles and housemade cherry pepper slaw. Customers can order the sandwich nationwide for $8.39 on Sept. 8 or get early access via the app before Friday’s official release.
Spicy Shackmeister Burger: The patty is made with 100% Angus beef, spiced with the same Shake Shack hot pepper blend, topped with crispy onions, chopped cherry peppers and ShackSauce and costs $7.99 a la carte.
Spicy Fries with Ranch Sauce: The classic crispy crinkle cut fries are spiced with the hot pepper blend and served with a side of housemade Shack ranch sauce, starting at $4.09 per order.
Spicy Cheese Fries with Ranch Sauce: Much like the above spiced crinkle cut fries, this version is topped with a cheese sauce and served with Shack ranch sauce. It starts at $5.09 per order.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — With self-driving cars already here, San Francisco took another step forward recently, allowing companies to offer driverless taxi services in the city.
Last month, officials voted to allow two companies, Cruise and Waymo, to charge passengers to ride in their driverless cars across all of San Francisco, a city with over 800,000 residents.
ABC News’ Becky Worley took a ride with each so-called robotaxi service.
To book a ride with Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Worley used an app, just like any other rideshare service.
When her car pulled up without anyone inside, Worley commented how strange it was, saying, “There’s nobody here, so weird.”
Inside the car, Worley sat in the backseat and watched as the steering wheel, working on its own, navigated her to her destination.
The car made its way through a parking lot and a complicated intersection and maneuvered itself well after a motorcycle cut in front of the car, according to Worley.
“The first five minutes, I was paying attention like I was driving,” Worley said of the experience. “And then you sort of get used to it.”
Next, Worley tried a robotaxi operated by Cruise, which is owned by General Motors.
She ordered the car via an app and, again, sat in the backseat of a car with no one else inside.
As the car drove itself, Worley said it came to an abrupt stop at an intersection when a pedestrian on the sidewalk stepped into the street, seemingly without looking.
Worley described the stop as “abrupt” and “jarring” for her as a rider. Cruise told ABC News that their cameras were tracking the pedestrian the whole time and that the car acted as it is programmed to do, veering left and braking to keep a safe distance from the pedestrian.
Worley eventually arrived safely at her destination.
Since the launch of self-driving taxis in San Francisco, there have been safety issues with cars from both Cruise and Waymo. Recently, the city asked Cruise to reduce the number of its cars on the streets as they work out the technology.
Cruise told ABC News in a statement, “We are proud of our safety record, which encompasses more than 4 million driverless miles in complex urban environments.”
Waymo told ABC News it is also focused on safety, saying in a statement, “Safety is our mission and top priority as we develop and deploy this technology.”
In addition to San Francisco, both companies are testing out their services in smaller rollouts in cities including Atlanta, Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix.
Christine Crosby, a mom of two, said she is a fan of self-driving taxis, having been a rider in Waymo’s pilot program in San Francisco. She said she tried out the service on her own first, without her kids, ages 6 and 1, but now brings her with them.
“I take my kids in this thing all the time,” said Crosby, who has taken over 150 rides — and counting — in self-driving taxis.
(NEW YORK) — Hillshire Brands Company has recalled nearly 15,876 pounds of blended meat and poultry smoked sausage products “that may be contaminated with extraneous materials, specifically bone fragments,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Saturday.
The recalled 14-ounce packages of “HILLSHIRE FARM SMOKED SAUSAGE MADE WITH PORK, TURKEY, BEEF” were produced on June 14, 2023, according to the FSIS, and bear the establishment number “EST. 756A” and use by date “Nov 11 23” on the front of the package.
The agency said the recalled products were shipped to retailers in California, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The FSIS reported that the problem was first discovered when Hillshire Brands notified the agency of “consumer complaints regarding bone fragments in the product.” The agency said it also received one consumer complaint regarding this issue.
“There has been one reported oral injury associated with consumption of this product. FSIS has received no additional reports of injury or illness from consumption of these products,” the agency stated in its recall announcement. “Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.”
Due to concerns that product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers, the FSIS urged consumers who may have purchased the sausages not to consume them.
“These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the agency said.
A representative for Tyson Foods, the parent company of Hillshire, did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
(DETROIT) — A four-day workweek at full-time pay, a 46% wage increase and a share of company profits are among the demands of the union representing approximately 150,000 workers at the Big 3 U.S. automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
The United Auto Workers, or UAW, has vowed to launch a strike on Sept. 14 if the union and the automakers fail to reach an agreement by then.
Even UAW President Shawn Fain last month described the workers’ set of demands as “audacious.” He has defended the ambitious agenda in a series of public statements, citing billions in profits enjoyed by the Big 3.
The automakers, meanwhile, have largely rejected the demands. Only Ford has presented a contract proposal, offering a 9% wage increase over the term of the contract, plus a one-time payout that brings the total raise to 15%.
“Overall, this offer is significantly better than what we estimate workers earn at Tesla and foreign automakers operating in the U.S.,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in a statement on Thursday.
Ford and General Motors declined to respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
In a statement, Stellantis told ABC News that discussions with the union’s bargaining team “continue to be constructive and collaborative with a focus on reaching a new agreement that balances the concerns of our 43,000 employees with our vision for the future — one that better positions the business to meet the challenges of the U.S. marketplace and secures the future for all of our employees, their families and our company.”
Meanwhile, Ford said it looks “forward to working with the UAW on creative solutions during this time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever.”
In a statement on Thursday, General Motors Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing, Gerald Johnson said: “The pace of negotiations is based on how quickly both parties resolve nearly 1,000 UAW demands, including more than 90 presented this week. Our goal remains the same — to achieve an agreement without a disruption that rewards our team members and protects the future of the entire GM team.”
As a potential strike approaches, here are some key UAW demands and what to know about them:
46% wage increase
The UAW has called for a 46% pay increase over the duration of a four-year contract, increasing top hourly wages to about $47 per hour.
Offering context for the extent of the pay increase, Fain has cited recent compensation increases for CEOs at the Big 3 as well as elevated inflation that has cut into purchasing power of workers.
“We went to Ford and proposed a double-digit wage increase, just like the Big 3 CEOs have received over the last four years,” Fain said on Facebook Live on Thursday. “Because we know our members are worth the same and more.”
“We also have a lot to make up for. In inflation adjusted dollars, our starting pay today is $10 an hour less than what it was in 2007,” Fain added.
In response, Ford said that full-time employees would be well-compensated under its offer of a 9% wage increase over the term of the contract, plus a one-time payout that brings the total raise to 15%.
“Full-time permanent Ford employees at the top wage rate could be paid $98,000 – from wages, cost-of-living adjustment bonus, ratification bonus, profit sharing and overtime – in the first year alone,” Farley said in a statement on Thursday.
32-hour workweek
One of the most eye-catching demands put forward by the UAW is a call for a 32-hour workweek at full-time pay.
The request arrives at a time when a growing roster of companies use a four-day workweek, fueling a movement that has accelerated amid a pandemic-era reconsideration of the workplace, experts previously told ABC News.
“We need to get back to fighting for a vision of society in which everyone earns family-sustaining wages and everyone has enough free time to enjoy their lives and see their kids grow up and their parents grow old,” Fain said.
The counteroffer from Ford appears to preserve a five-day workweek. In addition, it keeps benefits such as paid vacation and family days at current levels set under a contract reached in 2019.
Under that deal, full-time permanent employees could reach a maximum of five weeks of paid vacation annually as well as two family days.
“We are committed to creating opportunity for every UAW worker to build a great career at Ford and to become a full-time permanent Ford employee with the good middle-class wages and benefits that come with it,” Farley said.
Protections for workers if their plant closes
In addition to other reforms, the UAW has sought assurance that workers will keep getting paid if their manufacturing plant gets closed.
On top of that, the union has sought the right to strike in the event of a plant closure, giving such workers a source of leverage as the company winds down production.
“The Big 3 want the power to take our jobs and the products we build and move them to other countries where they can more easily exploit workers,” Fain said. “That results in massive job loss that guts local economies and rips apart families as workers uproot themselves from their lives and homes to travel across the country to get another job.”
Farley did not address this specific issue in a statement on Thursday but he emphasized the importance of Ford remaining competitive with other automakers.
“We will not make a deal that endangers our ability to invest, grow and share profits with our employees,” Farley said. “That would mortgage our future and would be harmful to everyone with a stake in Ford, including our valued UAW workers.”
Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 15 million cable viewers lost access to ESPN, ABC and other Disney-owned channels over Labor Day weekend when the global entertainment company and cable giant Charter Communications failed to renew a distribution deal.
Attempting to watch the U.S. Open or games from the first weekend of the college football season, subscribers to Charter’s cable TV service, Spectrum, instead encountered blackouts.
The impasse arrives at a moment of transition for the industry as a significant decline in viewership for linear television coincides with the rise of streaming.
Both Disney and Charter Communications declined to comment in response to an ABC News request.
Here’s what to know about the dispute between Disney, parent company of ABC News, and Charter Communications.
What is the consumer impact of the impasse between Disney and Charter Communications?
Access to the channels remains disabled for millions of Spectrum subscribers, as Disney and Charter Communications volley public statements blaming the other for the impasse.
The dispute persists less than one week before the regular-season debut of “Monday Night Football” on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, typically one of the most-watched TV programs on the nights when it is broadcast.
Some subscribers faced hold times of up to three hours over the weekend as they attempted to cancel their Spectrum subscriptions, Disney said in an online post.
During a Friday conference call with investors, Charter Communications President and CEO Christopher Winfrey criticized Disney for the timing and duration of the impasse.
“Programmers choose expiration dates that drive the most leverage for them by inconveniencing our collective customers,” Winfrey said during the call, which was reviewed by ABC News.
“We respect the quality of product that Disney produces, and its management team, but the video ecosystem is broken,” Winfrey further said. “I’m disappointed that Disney so far has insisted on higher prices, forcing customers to take on their products when they don’t want them or can’t afford them and asking to require customers to pay for direct-to-consumer apps that their linear fees already pay for.”
Disney, meanwhile, faulted Charter Communications for the inconvenience its customers are facing.
“Labor Day weekend is supposed to be one of the more relaxing holidays of the year in the U.S.,” Disney said in its online post on Sunday. “Unfortunately, Charter has made it a stressful one for its customers.”
What caused the dispute between Disney and Charter Communications?
Typically, cable providers pay a fee to content creators like Disney to make their channels part of the package accessed by cable customers.
On Thursday, Disney pulled its programming from Spectrum after, according to Charter, “Charter proposed a model that creates a better value for consumers and the industry,” which “Disney declined.” Under the terms of the current deal, Spectrum paid Disney $2.2 billion each year in programming costs, excluding revenue generated by advertising, Charter Communications said in a presentation to investors on Friday.
The two sides have thus far failed to agree on a new distribution deal.
Over the past five years, the linear TV industry has lost roughly 25 million viewers, or about 25% of its audience, said Charter Communications’ Winfrey during Friday’s conference call, adding, “It’s staggering.”
“We’re on the edge of a precipice,” Winfrey added. “We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model or we’re moving on.”
However, Disney has downplayed anything out of the ordinary in the dispute with Charter Communications, and instead highlighted the popularity of its channels with Charter customers.
“Disputes between cable companies and content providers aren’t new,” Disney said in their online post. “However, millions of consumers may find themselves perplexed and frustrated by what’s going on.”
ESPN aired more than half of the top cable 100 telecasts in Charter homes during the past year, Disney added, citing data from Nielsen.
“Disney deeply values its relationship with its viewers and is hopeful Charter is ready to have more conversations that will restore access to its content to Spectrum customers as quickly as possible,” Disney declared.
(NEW YORK) — The all-new Disney Treasure is the sixth ship to join the magical Disney Cruise Line fleet, and while it doesn’t officially set sail until December 2024, ABC News’ Good Morning America got a sneak peek at what’s on deck.
In a virtual grand reveal event on Tuesday morning, Disney Cruise Line shared never-before-seen renderings and details about the new Disney Treasure that guests can expect aboard the sister ship of the Disney Wish.
What to expect aboard the new Disney Treasure
The ship’s overall design was “inspired by Walt Disney’s love of exploration” and the theme of the ship is adventure, complete with Peter Pan and Captain Hook as the star stern characters.
Guests will be surrounded by the motif throughout their experience and even Captain Minnie Mouse will sport a new adventure-ready ensemble that was created exclusively for the new ship.
The ship will feature all-new themed venues and live experiences with touches that bring Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and Disney Parks to life like never before, from the colorful plazas of Mexico as seen in Coco to diving 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea within the iconic Nautilus.
The Disney Treasure embarks on its maiden voyage, a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 21, 2024, followed by an inaugural season of seven-night itineraries to the Eastern and Western Caribbean from Port Canaveral. Disney Cruise Line Castaway Club members can book a Disney Treasure cruise as early as Sept. 12, 2023, and bookings will open to all guests on Sept. 20, 2023.
New dining and entertainment inspired by Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios
Two venues onboard the Disney Treasure will pull from the worlds of Disney and Pixar.
First up, the Plaza de Coco, a theatrical dining experience themed to the hit 2017 animated film Coco, complete with the story of Miguel and vibrant mariachi performances, his family’s history and the famed magic guitar.
The second is Jumbeaux’s Sweets, reminiscent of the popular ice cream parlor Jumbeaux’s Café from Zootopia. The pink Victorian-style shop will serve 20 flavors of handmade gelato and 16 flavors of ice cream, as well as sorbets, specialty treats, candies and more.
Theme park adventures onboard the new Disney Treasure
Another first for Disney Cruises is the addition of a few beloved Disney Parks attraction-inspired venues.
The Skipper Society, located near the Grand Hall, will take guests into the world of the Jungle Cruise on the high seas. The lounge with poker and other games will be filled with tributes to the trusty, dry-witted skippers, references like a monkey-shaped chandelier, postcards, luggage tags and a canopy of jungle foliage, plus themed cocktails, light snacks and live entertainment.
The Periscope Pub will be Disney Cruise Line’s first venue inspired by the spellbinding 1954 adventure film and former ride, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, designed with submarine-style interiors and 19th century steampunk influences to make passengers feel like Captain Nemo on the Nautilus, and a decorative statement rug featuring his fabled nemesis, the giant squid.
The pub will be more of a casual venue ideal for guests looking to unwind, watch live sports or news and enjoy a menu of craft brews and light bites.
Finally, the Tomorrow Tower Suite was designed to capture the forward-thinking design of EPCOT. The nearly 2,000-square-foot accommodation, set high in the ship’s forward funnel, is a one-of-a-kind suite that comfortably sleeps eight people and overlooks the top deck of the ship with an expansive two-story window. The suite is full of dynamic art pieces, molten metal accents and futuristic, colorful glass accents that will evoke the distinct atmosphere of EPCOT’s World Discovery neighborhood.
More magical details about the Disney Treasure
Since construction first began in January at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, Disney Parks Blog has revealed a handful of details about the new ship, including the stern character sculptures of Peter Pan and Captain Hook to honor the adventure theme.
“Harnessing the power of Tinker Bell’s pixie dust, Peter Pan will levitate next to the Disney Treasure to add the finishing touch to the ship’s stern filigree,” Disney Parks Blog announced last month. “Meanwhile, Peter Pan’s longtime rival, Captain Hook can be seen leaning out a porthole with a vengeful expression on his face. Paintbrush and paint bucket in hand, Peter Pan sports a mischievous grin as he glances back at Captain Hook, who is dripping in yellow paint.”
The Grand Hall is “inspired by the mystery and grandeur of a gilded palace” with real-world influences from Asia and Africa, and statues of Aladdin and Princess Jasmine to pay homage to the fictional land of Agrabah.
In the video reveal, Disney showed off how the ship blends “one-of-a-kind offerings with unparalleled hospitality that distinguishes every Disney Cruise line vacation.”
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Good Morning America.
(NEW YORK) — America has range anxiety. Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson may have an answer.
Rawlinson, an industry veteran who previously engineered cars for Tesla, Lotus and Jaguar, built the Lucid Air all-electric sedan to quell range fears and transform how motorists drive.
The sleek and futuristic Lucid Air ($82,400) can travel up to 516 miles without needing a charge, making it the longest-range EV currently on the market. The young company manufactures its vehicles in Arizona and production of its halo car, the $249,000 Lucid Air Sapphire (1,234 horsepower, 1,430 lb-ft of torque), begins this month. The company’s first SUV, the Lucid Gravity, will be unveiled in November.
Rawlinson, who is also Lucid’s chief technology officer, said cheap electric vehicles with small, efficient batteries will get Americans to permanently trade in their gasoline-powered vehicles for electrics.
“The feeling of the road, the feedback through the steering, the instantaneous torque — there is romance with an electric car,” he said.
Rawlinson recently sat down with ABC News to address Americans’ attitudes toward EVs, how to reduce the mining of core materials for batteries and why he does not miss the exhaust note on a Lotus sports car.
The interview below has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: How can you convince Americans to give up their internal combustion cars? Range is a serious concern for many people.
A: Most people still haven’t gotten behind the wheel of an electric car. They’re unaware that it’s actually a better, more pleasurable, more responsive and more engaging driving experience.
If we wind back a few years, the fundamental obstacle was range anxiety. And it still is to a certain degree. But I think we assuaged that concern with Lucid Air having 516 miles of range [for the Grand Touring model]. The key obstacle to widespread adoption in the U.S. and worldwide is the entry price point of an electric car. I am profoundly aware that we need to push the price down so more people can afford electric cars. This is critically important.
There are a number of factors that are going to drive that. One is economy of scale of the battery itself, which is the most expensive part of an electric car. There is another factor that almost no one is taking about: vehicle efficiency. And that’s not battery efficiency — battery efficiency is a misnomer. There is almost no such thing as battery efficiency. The best analogy I can make is miles per gallon in a gasoline car. Mpg is not a function of the size of the gas tank. It’s a function of the efficiency of the vehicle’s gasoline engine.
Right now there is this sense that it’s binary — that all gasoline cars are bad. And there’s this perspective that all electric cars are good for the environment. There are inefficient electric cars. What we’re trying to do at Lucid is advance the technology to make the most efficient cars in the world. This is fundamentally important to mankind because we need to go further with less battery pack.
If we can go further with a smaller battery we can address the entry cost of an electric vehicle. Affordable electric cars will really accelerate the widespread adoption both here in the U.S. and internationally.
Q: Right now your least expensive model is $82,400. Are you eventually going to build a car that is $60,000, $50,000 or $40,000?
A: That is exactly why I go to work. I am not here to build an expensive car that only rich people can afford.
We had to start with a high-end product, that’s the only way I could make [the company] work commercially, the only way I could make the business work financially to attract investment.
But the technology we’re able to develop today — and the future technology — that is the key to unlocking greater efficiency. I would love to be able to license our technology that others can manufacture at scale.
We are targeting a price — and don’t hold me to this — around $50,000. That’s the vision. Right in the heart of Tesla Model 3, Model Y territory. I wish I could go to a lower-price car but it’s the best this company can do in this mid- to late decade time frame. What the world needs of course is the $25,000 electric car. I think that can come as a consequence of the technology we’re developing today. And we’re doing that with a sense of utmost urgency.
Q: It’s not just price, people are also concerned about the national charging infrastructure.
A: About 86% of Lucid customers charge at home overnight. Relatively slow charging is the kindest for the environment, for the grid, for your pocket and for the car.
Overnight charging puts less strain on the grid in the U.S, which is overstretched as it is. Cranking power stations up and down in a 24-hour cycle is very bad for the environment. Now, if it’s wind and solar, that’s great. For now, there will be that carbon content in energy generation.
I think policymakers have a role here. It’s really important to get more overnight AC [alternating-current charging, also known as Level 2] infrastructure for those who live in apartment complexes or street park. There’s too much emphasis on DC fast charging.
It’s very rare for most people to drive more than 500 miles in a day. So 99 times out of 100 you can leave your home fully charged and never have to fast charge — which is worse for the environment, worse for the grid, it’s worse for your car battery. When we look at infrastructure, please let’s have more emphasis on AC overnight charging. That will certainly broaden the appeal for all those people in apartments who do not have access to garage spaces. Personally, I would prefer reliable, slower charging over less reliable, super fast charging.
I don’t get range anxiety, I get charging anxiety. Will the public infrastructure work? As we know it’s not reliable enough now. The less range you’ve got in your car, the more anxiety.
Q: A lot of automakers are choosing to use Tesla’s NACS charging plug for their vehicles. Will Lucid do the same?
A: We are very open-minded. We consider everything. I am a proponent of having a unified standard — but it has to be future proof. That means it should be high voltage, a thousand volts. The lions share of the Tesla grid today is not high voltage. If the U.S. public is going to pay with tax dollars we should have a standard. And I am fine with the NACS plug, I led the team that designed that plug when I was at Tesla.
Q: You were the chief engineer of the Tesla Model S. Who or what will dethrone Tesla from its perch?
A: Everyone is obsessing with dethroning Tesla. I am not trying to dethrone Tesla. I am not! When the Model S came out, the thesis was there is no market for electric cars. Guess what? There wasn’t because no one had done a good electric car. So there wasn’t a market because no one could buy one. Now there’s this perception that Tesla is the market for electric cars. No — there’s a market for great cars. The more people who get behind the wheel in our cars will ditch their gasoline car and move to a Lucid Air because it’s better.
Q: How do we reduce the mining of nickel, lithium and cobalt for EV batteries?
A: If we double battery efficiency, we’ll halve the number of mines for cobalt, nickel and lithium. We can make more efficient cars with smaller batteries.That’s what I am trying to do.
We don’t need 500 miles of range in the future. I think the electric car of the future will be more like 150 miles of range — if we have mature infrastructure.
You need to adopt a top-and-go mentality with EVs. Get a cup of coffee, use the restroom, plug in for eight minutes, top and go. The car’s battery is not like a nickel cadmium battery where topping off is bad.
I think we can get to a car with a 25-kilowatt hour battery pack. If it does 6 miles per kilowatt hour — that’s the magic number, the holy grail — it will save the planet. We’re trying to get 5 with Lucid Air. Right now we’re at 4.74.
Q: You said earlier that electric cars are more enjoyable to drive. Enthusiasts complain that EVs drive like appliances … you can go fast in a straight line but something is missing.
A: I don’t ascribe to that thesis at all. I had a Lotus when I was 21 and I don’t miss the exhaust note at all. The engagement with the road, the feedback through the steering, the instantaneous torque — there is romance with an electric car.
There’s a perception that electrics are appliances because many of them are. The Lucid Air is not an appliance. It’s a love affair with the road. No one would describe it as an appliance.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. hiring spree slowed in recent months as employers took on fewer workers and provided smaller wage increases, government data released on Friday showed.
Hiring held steady in August as the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the unemployment rate remains historically low, it ticked up to 3.8% last month. A sharp downward revision of job growth estimates in June and July lowered those totals by a combined 110,000 jobs.
The mildly bad news for workers bodes well for the nation’s fight against inflation, since in theory the looser jobs market and slower pay hikes take pressure off of companies that may otherwise need to charge higher prices as means of addressing ballooning labor costs, economists said.
“The labor market overall is continuing to soar at an ideal cruising altitude — high enough to keep the unemployment rate low while creating more opportunities for workers to come in off the sidelines, but low enough so as not to cause a resurgence of inflation,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, said in a statement on Friday.
The fresh hiring data arrived more than a month after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate another quarter of a percentage point, reviving its aggressive inflation fight despite a slowdown of price hikes.
Inflation stands well below its peak last summer of over 9% but remains more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate. Price increases accelerated slightly in July, suggesting a bumpy road toward bringing costs down to normal levels.
The jobs report released on Friday “will likely be welcomed by Fed officials,” Gregory Daco, chief economist at global consulting firm EY, said in a statement.
In remarks made at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said bringing inflation down to normal levels would require a loosening of the labor market.
Powell described the recent slowdown in hiring as a “rebalancing” of supply and demand for workers, which allows businesses to ease pay increases and in turn soften price hikes.
“We expect this labor market rebalancing to continue,” Powell said.
Over a yearlong period ending in August, average hourly earnings increased 4.3%, which remains robust but marks a slight slowdown from year-over-year wage gains in the previous month, the latest jobs report showed. Pay increases continue to exceed the inflation rate.
Speaking at the White House on Friday, President Joe Biden touted the solid wage increases, saying he believes price hikes can slow without a decline in pay or an increase in unemployment.
“Remember, some experts said to get inflation under control, we needed higher unemployment and lower wages,” Biden said. “But I’ve never thought that it was the problem that too many people have a job or that working people are making too much money.”
Still, the mild cooldown of pay increases could help the U.S. bring down inflation while averting a recession — an outcome known as a “soft landing,” Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at Glassdoor, said in a statement. But the declining wage gains could hurt some household budgets, he added.
“The economy may still be on a glide path to a soft landing, but it may not feel cushy to communities accustomed to more,” Terrazas said.
The next decision from the Federal Reserve about a possible rate increase will take place in roughly three weeks.
An additional rate hike could help bring down prices by further slowing the economy and reducing demand, but the move risks ultimately tipping the U.S. into a recession.
The August jobs report should nudge the Fed toward a decision that leaves its benchmark interest rate unchanged, since the loosening labor market suggests that an economic slowdown has already taken hold, said Daco.
Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, offered a similar observation, noting that data released earlier this month showed a decline in job openings in keeping with a labor market slowdown.
Taken together, the recent jobs data “gives the Fed some leeway to take a pause later this month,” Roach said.
Last week, Powell said a mixture of economic data will inform its next rate-hike decision, noting that economic trends can prove difficult to assess.
“As is often the case, we are navigating by the stars under cloudy skies,” Powell said. “We will proceed carefully.”
(NEW YORK) — As the summer winds down, Labor Day weekend travel is about to get underway. Here’s what you need to know before hitting the road or heading to the airport.
The skies
Labor Day weekend is projected to be the third-busiest travel weekend of the year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Expedia expects Friday, Sept. 1 and Monday, Sept. 4 to be the weekend’s busiest days to fly.
Domestic flights are averaging $226 per ticket this Labor Day weekend, down 11% from last year and down 20% from 2019, according to Hopper.
American Airlines and United Airlines both said their busiest travel days of the weekend will be Thursday, Aug. 31 and Friday, Sept. 1.
The Transportation Security Administration said it expects an 11% increase in passengers this Labor Day weekend compared to last year. The agency projects its busiest day to be Friday, Sept 1.
The TSA added that this summer has been the busiest summer travel period on record
The roads
The busiest time on the roads over Labor Day weekend will be between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31, according to transportation analytics company INRIX. But on Sept. 1, drivers should still expect worse-than-normal traffic between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Car rentals are averaging $41 per day, down 14.5% from this time last year, according to Hopper. The most popular cities for rental car pickups are Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas; and Los Angeles.
(NEW YORK) — Low water levels at the Panama Canal are causing a traffic jam at the historic trading route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, threatening to ensnarl the holiday shipping season and raising alarm among canal officials.
The 109-year-old canal works through a water lock system that move ships up or down as they make it to the other side. Each ship that goes through the canal uses millions of gallons of water that gets sucked in from nearby lakes. Without this fresh water, the canal can’t operate.
There’s always been enough rainfall flowing to these lakes, but this year a longer dry season and a shorter rainy season have led to a shortage of freshwater to feed the canal, according to canal officials.
ABC News foreign correspondent Matt Rivers spoke to “START HERE” about his visit to the canal, how authorities are instituting new rules to help conserve water and concerns about the potential impact on supply chains and consumer prices.
BRAD MIELKE: Remember when the Suez Canal in Egypt backed up because of a boat accident, basically? Hundreds of ships patiently lined up for days while the world’s freight traffic just stopped?
Well now, a similar situation is playing out closer to home. The famed Panama Canal is now home to the planet’s biggest traffic jam, but this time it’s not because of a ship, but because of the water.
ABC’s foreign correspondent Matt Rivers is on the ground in Panama right now. Matt ,maybe I should have said not water, it’s a lack of water, right? What’s happening?
MATT RIVERS: Yeah, that’s exactly right. So basically, you have the Panama Canal. Everyone knows that it connects the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. And right now, there are huge delays. You can enter the canal from either the Atlantic or the Pacific, and we took a boat out on to the Pacific the other day and there are just ship after ship after ship stuck waiting.
And the reason why has to do with the way this canal is structured. So, basically, the way this works is that as you enter one side, a series of locks, so think of them as like water elevators – they have to move ships either up or down as they make it to the other side.
In order to do that, the canal sucks water in from nearby lakes. These are freshwater sources. So basically, it’s rainfall that comes down, feeds the rivers, the rivers feed down into the canal.
Each ship that goes through the canal uses about 55 million gallons of water, most of which then gets flushed out to sea as the ship makes its way through the canal. In a place like Panama, which is one of the wettest countries in the world, that has never really been a problem – until now, because when you think about what I just said, you have to have a lot of fresh water.
Well, what happens this year? From January to about March, April, I would say, is typically the dry season in Panama. But that dry season was extended by a few months this year where they didn’t get the amount of rain they needed. It was hotter, a more extended dry season. And when the wet season started, let’s say around June until now, it’s been a less wet than usual wet season.
Basically, with all that adds up to is that there’s less fresh water. The levels in the canal are much lower than where they need to be, and so as a result, canal authorities have less water to work with when they’re moving each one of these ships through.
They’ve had to implement water saving, water conserving measures. So what that’s meant is that not only are they allowing less ships to go through the canal every day, from 36 on average down to about 32 on average, but each ship also has weight restrictions now.
They have to actually have less cargo on board. So what that means is delays. The number of ships that are going through each day is less, but the number of ships arriving same as ever before, and so that’s why on both sides, in the Atlantic and the Pacific, you’ve got ships waiting. Right now, we’re approaching about 150 ships, more or less waiting to transit through.
MIELKE: So how bad is that? Like, what does that mean for consumers, I guess? Like, how bad is it getting as far as the shipments?
RIVERS: Sure. So, basically, think about what these ships carry through. It’s everything from consumer electronics to raw materials used to make other goods. The shipping companies, the companies that are paying for these shipments, they incur more fees. The longer these delays go on, ultimately, their costs go up. And as we saw during the pandemic, what happens when companies incur more costs? Do they eat it in the public good? No.
Generally speaking, they say let’s just pass those costs right along to the consumer. And that is the fear here. We’re not really seeing that yet, but this is the start of the peak season for shipping. And it might I mean, don’t get mad at me for talking about Christmas this early. I’m not someone who likes to see Christmas trees in Target this early, but these shipping companies are thinking about Christmas.
So there could be delays in those goods getting to stores, and you could see prices go up a little bit as a result. Again, we’re not seeing that now, but if these companies decide to pass costs incurred here at the Panama Canal on to your average American, then you could see prices go up.
That said, let me just say, this is not going to be, at least for now, as bad as the kind of supply chain issues that we saw during the global pandemic.
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MIELKE: Well, and I guess this raises this larger worry, which is like, if there’s a boat accident there, that can get fixed in a day. If there’s part of the canal is destroyed, you could reconstruct that in a week or a month or whatever. Droughts can last for years, Matt. So what happens going forward if the problem is just how much it rains in a country?
RIVERS: Yeah, and those are the questions that we posed to Panama Canal authorities, and they’re taking it one step at a time.
During the wet season, which is where we are now, that’s when normally the feeder system for this canal fills back up. So when dry season comes around again in the early part of next year, they’ve got enough water to work with, they get through the dry season, then the wet season comes again and everything is OK. But if the wet season doesn’t fill back up their supplies enough, then they’re going to be starting off next year on the back foot.
Without fresh water, this canal cannot operate. It’s that simple. So what keeps the authorities here at the Panama Canal up? The long-term viability of the canal. If they don’t get more fresh water, then they can’t operate the canal the same way they have since it opened more than a century ago.
We’re not there yet. We don’t hope, no one hopes, we get to that point. But these are the kinds of conversations that are being had here at the Panama Canal within the official community that have literally never happened before.
