(WASHINGTON) — The number of job openings hit a record high of 10.9 million on the last day of July, the Department of Labor said Wednesday, as businesses struggle to lure back workers in the wake of COVID-19’s shock to the economy.
The latest figure on job openings beats the record high of 10.1 million that was just set the previous month in June, but may not yet reflect the impact of the delta variant’s spread on the labor market. Still, the fresh data paints a complicated picture of economic recovery as job openings soar despite unemployment levels remaining elevated.
Job openings increased across the economy, with major increases in health care and social assistance, finance and insurance, as well as accommodation and food services, the DOL said.
In addition to job openings reaching a high, the number of people leaving their jobs is also at record high levels. The quits rate in July was 2.7%, the BLS said Wednesday, tying with June and April of 2021 for the highest on record.
Economists have attributed the recent labor crunch to lingering health concerns over the virus that may have some workers not wanting to return to the workplace, a child care crisis that has disproportionately impacted working women, as well as harder-to-quantify factors as many Americans reassess what they want from a job after living through a once-in-a-century pandemic that has left more than 600,000 Americans dead.
The unemployment rate in August was 5.2%, a reflection of major improvements in the labor market compared to before the vaccine rollout, but still above the pre-pandemic 3.5% seen in February 2020. Broken down further, employment has risen by some 17 million jobs since April 2020, but the economy is still down some 5.3 million jobs compared to February 2020.
Despite the unemployment rate remaining elevated, many firms have reported struggles hiring staff — which has resulted in average wages rising, especially among service industries or jobs requiring face-to-face contact. The average hourly earnings for workers in August was some $30.73.
The latest data from the DOL also comes as enhanced pandemic-era unemployment benefits expired this week for millions of Americans. Despite the rhetoric from many Republican lawmakers, however, data indicates that yanking pandemic unemployment benefits — as a handful of states have already done — did not contribute to job growth. Researchers at JPMorgan found “zero correlation” between job growth and state decisions to drop the federal unemployment aid, the Associated Press reported.
(AFGHANISTAN) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday called on the Taliban to allow chartered aircraft to depart Afghanistan with Americans and Afghans ready to board, but said there were “limits” to what the U.S. can do to ensure they fly out.
For over a week now, the Taliban have not permitted at least six chartered flights to leave, saying some evacuees do not have the proper documents to depart. The standoff is turning dire for some passengers, with one aid group organizing a group of Afghan women and girls telling ABC News the situation is “uncontrolled” and “uncomfortable.”
The militant group, which has publicly said it will allow safe passage to foreigners trying to leave the country, unveiled an “interim” government on Tuesday that includes several top leaders already under U.S. and United Nations sanctions.
Blinken said the new Taliban cabinet “certainly does not meet the test of inclusivity,” but would only say its top members had “very challenging track records.”
The Biden administration has struggled to evacuate U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghan partners in the eight days since U.S. military and diplomatic personnel withdrew from the country, ending America’s 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
That includes for at least 19 U.S. citizens and hundreds of Afghans in the northern city Mazar-e-Sharif, where chartered aircraft have been waiting at the airport for over a week now, according to aid groups involved in organizing them.
“Those flights need to be able to leave and the United States government, the State Department – we are doing everything we can to help make that happen,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he met some of the thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated by the U.S.-led operation that ended on Aug. 30.
Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Sunday that the flights were being held “hostage” as the Taliban demanded concessions from the U.S., while some advocates blamed the U.S. for not clearing the flights. Blinken said Wednesday there was “a fair amount of confusion” about the situation — with State Department officials saying the U.S. is not involved in approving landing or overflight rights and doing what it can to help the chartered flights get approvals.
“While there are limits to what we can do without personnel on the ground, without an airport with normal security procedures in place, we are doing everything in our power to support those flights and to get them off the ground. That’s what we’ve done, that’s what we’ll continue to do,” Blinken said alongside German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
State Department officials said U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been sending urgent messages to the Taliban’s leadership to demand that they abide by their commitments on safe passage, and that the U.S. has so far no security concerns based on the manifests provided by advocacy groups.
But Marina LeGree, the founder and executive director of Ascend, a U.S.-based nonprofit seeking to empower Afghan women and girls through mountain climbing, blamed the State Department for standing in the way at times.
“We’ve given you all the details of these people and you cleared them and call them to come, and now you’re saying, ‘You have to have travel documents and don’t worry if you do, you get to go’? That’s a complete abdication of responsibility, and it’s just – it’s morally repugnant,” LeGree told ABC News Wednesday.
In total, there are more than 1,000 people now seeking a seat on these chartered flights, she added, complicating efforts to ensure Americans and vulnerable Afghans can safely evacuate first and degrading conditions at the airport itself where many have been waiting for days.
One hundred and ninety miles to the southeast, some conditions in Kabul are deteriorating as well. A top U.N. official said Wednesday her office is receiving daily reports of women’s rights being rolled back, including barring them from leaving home without a man or going to work.
“With the announcement yesterday, the Taliban have missed a critical opportunity to show the world that is truly committed to building an inclusive and prosperous society,” said Alison Davidian, the deputy representative in Afghanistan for U.N. Women, the global agency’s entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
That announcement is the formation of an “interim” government, led by Taliban commanders that played prominent roles in its previous government that ruled much of Afghanistan in the late 1990’s.
Instead of naming a woman to any position, the Taliban also dissolved the previous U.S.-backed government’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and reinstated its Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which acted as a religious enforcement force.
Blinken said the U.S. was still “assessing the announcement,” but expressed concern that the list of ministers “consists exclusively of individuals who are members of the Taliban and their close associates and no women” and that some have ties to other terrorist organizations like al Qaeda and the Haqqani Network.
“It certainly does not meet the test of inclusivity,” he added, noting some individuals have “very challenging track records.”
Challenging is an understatement. Sirajuddin Haqqani, for example, has been put in charge of domestic affairs as acting Interior Minister. The leader of the sanctioned Haqqani Network, which is responsible for ruthless terror attacks across Afghanistan, he has a $10 million bounty on his head by the FBI.
Asked whether the U.S. government is still pursuing his capture, Blinken didn’t directly address the question – instead saying the U.S. will engage the Taliban “for purposes of advancing the national interests” of the U.S. and its allies and “in ways that are fully consistent with our laws,” including U.S. sanctions on the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and Haqqani himself and others.
As he and other U.S. officials have said repeatedly, Blinken reiterated that the U.S. will judge the new government “by its action.”
But he was pressed by an Afghan journalist Tuesday on that. After Taliban fighters have beaten female protesters and journalists covering demonstrations against them, shut down media outlets and raided homes, and more, TOLO News’s Lotfullah Najafizada asked Blinken, “What else do you want to see?”
“We will see by its actions whether it corrects course on any of these incidents of abusive conduct,” Blinken said.
Walker Hayes’ song, “Fancy Like,” quickly became the hit heard around the world, after a dance Walker and his daughter, Lela, did to the song on TikTok, which mentions Applebee’s, went viral. Walker and his wife, Laney, even filmed a commercial for the restaurant chain, but Walker doesn’t need to get paid to profess his love of Appleee’s.
“We grew up in Mobile, Alabama, a Southern town,” Walker tells Ad Age. “And as a family, we didn’t eat at home a lot. I was usually getting out of basketball or track or some sport and we would go to dinner as a family and Applebee’s is one of the regular ones. On most nights we would go to a cheap Mexican restaurant or a cheap Chinese buffet, but on a fancier night, it was Applebee’s.”
Walker’s love of Applebee’s even carried through to his dating relationship with his now-wife, when the restaurant became a popular date-night destination.
“If we went to prom or something like that, Applebee’s was definitely on the list of ‘where are we going to go grab a bite?'” Walker says. “That’s what people like me did, and we still do. I guess it’s a testament to how simple we are, but we just love chain restaurants.”
Now, thanks to Applebee’s generosity, Walker and Laney and their six children get to visit the restaurant as well — and often.
“Applebee’s has hooked my family with some sick gift cards, so we’ve been putting those to use. I mean, why would I go anywhere else?”
Maroon 5 will be one of the artists performing onShine a Light, a special that will air on CNN on Saturday, September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We feel deeply moved by this opportunity to use our music to help shine a light and support a broadcast that is coming from and for the 9/11 community,” the band says in a statement.
Other acts that’ll be performing on the special include country star Brad Paisley, and Oscar and Grammy-winning musicians H.E.R. and Common.
Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, who appeared on stage together at the all-star Concert for New York City the month after the attacks, will team up to deliver a message of support on the special, while ex-New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be a presenter.
In addition to the musical performances, the Shine a Light special will feature films and interviews with those directly affected by the attacks, who’ll share their stories. Viewers will be encouraged to visit 911day.org during the broadcast to post and share simple acts of kindness, charity and service in tribute to those killed and injured, and to the first responders to rushed to help.
In other Maroon 5 news, the band had been set to perform at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Friday, but that show has been canceled with no explanation.
Anita Baker has won her long legal battle with her record label, and the eight-time Grammy winner has proudly announced she now owns her own music masters and has full control of her songs.
“They no longer ‘Own, My Name & Likeness,’” Baker wrote on her private Twitter account, as captured by Essence. “And, by Law…30 yr old, Mstrs are 2B Returned, 2 Me Unfortunately, They’re gonna make me Fight 4 it. I’m Prepared, 2 do that.”
The “Giving You the Best That I Got” singer previously asked fans not to stream or buy any of her music because of her legal fight.
“All My Children Are Coming Home,” Anita wrote with a photo of her first five studio albums: 1983’s The Songstress, The Rapture from 1986, 1988’s Giving You the Best That I Got, Compositions from 1990, and her 1994 release, Rhythm of Love.
When a follower asked if now she wants fans to stream her music, Anita replied, “Yes. Chil’ren…Stream.”
Baker also announced that a new compilation of her music will be available soon on Rhino Records.
Ahead of Thursday’s trailer release, Warner Bros.’ new interactive teaser for the fourth Matrix movie plays on the choice Keanu Reeves‘ Thomas Anderson/Neo made in the original film.
At TheChoiceIsYoursWhatIsTheMatrix.com, you’re presented with two choices: a red pill or a blue pill. As in the movie, each offers a different path. The blue pill allows one to stay asleep in what they think is the real world, while the red tells you the horrible truth: that “real life” is a simulation created by machines to pacify a human race enslaved in the actual world.
Choose either pill, and complete with the drizzling of digital green code the original films made famous, you’re presented with snippets of the upcoming film, and scenes of Reeves’ return to the blockbuster franchise. Each pill unlocks different shots from the movie.
Creepily, both choices are personalized with whatever time you happen to choose them: for example, click on the blue pill at 2:47 p.m., and the voice-overs you hear will reflect that exact time.
The blue pill greets you with a voice-over from co-star Neil Patrick Harris that states, “Do you remember how you got here? You’ve lost your capacity to discern reality from fiction. What’s real is here and now. 2:47 p.m. Anything else is just your mind playing tricks on you.” He adds, “We don’t want anyone to get hurt, do we?”
Conversely, the red pill lets you hear from co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who tells you, “Right now, you believe it’s 2:47 p.m. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. It could be this is the first day of the rest of your life. But if you want it, you have to fight for it.”
F9: The Fast Saga will be available on home video on September 21, and as Cardi B reflects on her small role in the blockbuster — which has grossed over $600 million worldwide — she remembers she was intimidated by the franchise star, Vin Diesel.
“I was scared,” the “Rumors” rapper admits in a behind the scenes video, according to People. “But he’s so nice, so dope, he makes you feel so comfortable.” After filming wrapped, Vin praised Cardi, saying, “I really am proud of you.”
Cardi portrayed Leysa, who appeared as a fake officer to save Diesel’s character, Dominic Toretto, when he was arrested in the U.K. As he sat in the back of an Interpol truck, she revealed herself as someone from his past, and told Dom she’d “still be stealing gas” in the Dominican Republic if it weren’t for him, referencing the beginning of 2009’s fourth film in the franchise, Fast & Furious.
“When I was doing this character, I felt so gangster, says the Grammy winner. “I love it.”
Also in the video, director Justin Lin reveals how he chose Cardi for the film. “I remember getting a call saying, ‘Hey, Cardi B is a fan,’ and saying, ‘OK great, we’re going to do the expected cameo but turn it on its head.'”
In December 2019, Diesel announced Cardi was cast in F9 in an Instagram video. As they sat together outside of a trailer, Cardi said, “I ain’t gonna front. This gonna be the best one.”
Cardi, who gave birth to her second child, a son, on September 4, has five nominations for Sunday’s MTV VMAs.”WAP” with Megan Thee Stallion, is up for Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Hip-Hop and Best Collaboration. “Rumors” with Lizzo, is nominated for Song of the Summer.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court is returning to its iconic courtroom in October to hear in-person oral arguments for the first time since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the justices to conduct business over the phone.
Oral arguments scheduled for the October, November and December sessions will be in the courtroom with access limited to essential court personnel, counsel and journalists, the court announced Wednesday.
The justices began meeting in person in April for private meetings to discuss cases, and all nine justices are fully vaccinated. But with the continuing coronavirus pandemic and a surge in cases due to the delta variant, the court will remain closed to the public.
While oral arguments have been held over the phone for the last year and a half, real-time oral arguments have been available to the media for broadcasting to the public. The court anticipates that won’t change with a return to in-person operations, according to the announcement.
That marks a major shift in the court’s transparency because prior to the pandemic, only those sitting in the courtroom had real-time access to the proceedings. Audio recordings of oral arguments were made available to the public at the end of each week, and transcripts of arguments were made available the same day.
The court that is returning to the bench in October is not the same as the one that left in March 2020. Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September of last year, the court’s conservatives held a narrow 5-4 majority.
Now conservatives have a powerful 6-3 majority after the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, nominated by former President Donald Trump, about a week before the 2020 presidential election — causing an uproar among Democrats over the last-minute appointment. Coney Barret has yet to hear in-person arguments since joining the court.
The court will return from its summer recess to hear arguments Oct. 4 in the cases of Mississippi v. Tennessee, which will determine if Mississippi has sole control of the state’s groundwater, and Wooden v. United States, which will determine whether crimes committed in a sequential spree are considered separate occasions, according to SCOTUSblog.
Elton John has just scored his second #1 hit of 2021 on the U.K.’s biggest chart countdown show, and he couldn’t be happier.
Elton’s collaboration with U.K. pop star Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart,” toppedThe Official Big Top 40 countdown radio show, which measures downloads, streaming and radio airplay, and is most similar to America’s Billboard Hot 100.
Reflecting on his achievement, 74-year-old Elton told the show, “Well, at my age, having one number-one song in the singles chart is an incredible surprise and for me, an achievement. So, two is ridiculous. I mean, this is a dream come true.”
Earlier this year, Elton’s collaboration with British act Years & Years on a cover of the Pet Shop Boys‘ “It’s a Sin” topped the same chart.
“‘Cold Heart,” created by Australian dance duo PNAU, is a mashup of three Elton songs: “Sacrifice,” “Rocket Man” and “Where’s the Shoorah?” On Instagram, Elton wrote, “Thank you for streaming and listening to ‘Cold Heart.’ Even after all this time making music and putting it out there, a number 1 still means so much and I couldn’t be prouder of the song, Dua and PNAU for what we’ve produced.”
Elton also teased, “Big things coming and I’m so excited to share them all with you.”
Michael Ray co-wrote two of the seven songs on his latest release, the Higher Education EP, but one of those songs changed him forever. The Florida native penned both “Picture” and “Didn’t Know I Was Country,” and he says the latter had a profound impact on his life and career.
“It was in that moment when I really felt a change in my songwriting,” Michael tells American Songwriter, recalling when he wrote “Didn’t Know I Was Country” with Ashley Gorley and Taylor Phillips. “I was just being very honest and wasn’t hesitating. In the past, I worried about ‘If I do this, will these people like me?’ Finally, I was like I’ve been through enough and I’ve survived it. Let’s just try being yourself.”
Higher Education is Michael’s first release since his 2018 album, Amos. Ironically, it was after he released that record, which included the hit single “The One That Got Away,” that he realized he needed to switch directions.
“I am super proud of Amos as an album, but the pandemic made me really think about how I would feel if that were my last record ever,” Michael reflects. “And I realized, I can’t say I would be okay if that was my last collection ever.”
