- According to a recent survey, an increasing percentage of small firms resort to automation to avoid ongoing workforce shortages in their industry. This includes anything from self-checkout devices to e-commerce platforms.
A third of study participants indicated they had invested in some automation technology in the last year after failing to fill employment openings, which reached one million across the country in September, according to a poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business of its membership.
The study, which employed monthly CFIB polls dating back to September and polled between 3,600 and 4,500 small firms, discovered that manufacturing, social services, and financial, insurance, and administrative services were the most likely to invest in automation recently.
Minor modifications were made by firms investing in automated technology, such as “purchasing software to automate payroll processes,” according to Corinne Pohlmann, CFIB vice-president of national relations.
Others were spending more money on more expensive equipment, such as self-checkout gadgets for consumers in physical stores and e-commerce platforms that perform the functions of a salesman.
Overall, 81 percent of respondents that engaged in automation said the technology alleviated their labor shortage. The data show a significant acceleration of a trend before the COVID-19 epidemic. During the epidemic, businesses ranging from factories to mom-and-pop stores turned to technology to keep operations running smoothly despite public health procedures and contagion worries. Even though most restrictions have been abolished and most Canadians have been vaccinated, the ongoing difficulty finding labor has generated renewed interest in automation.
Statistics Canada’s job vacancy rate increased to 6% in September, totaling 1,014,600 job opportunities, the highest level since October 2020. There were approximately 200,000 job openings in the lodging and foodservice industries and 131,200 in health care and social support.
“Small firms were already facing a considerable labor shortage at the start of 2020, and the pandemic has further compounded the issue,” said Simon Gaudreault, CFIB vice-president of national research.
“Employees upskilled or transferred to other occupations in industries that they shut down for lengthy periods, such as hospitality, and practically all sectors are suffering severe demographic upheavals with not enough new workers coming in to replace those who are retiring.”
Labor organizations and some economists have chastised businesses that offer low compensation to employees while expecting people to come to fill the posts. Despite the rising workload and insecure conditions, worker pay in service industries such as food and lodging has risen by a few cents since February 2020.
Increased dependence on technology to fulfill jobs previously performed by humans has a history of undermining low-wage employment possibilities. According to research released this year by the International Monetary Fund, pandemic-era automation would worsen global inequality in the coming years.
On the other hand, long-term labor shortages push firms to rely less on the labor market, according to Marty Weintraub, a Deloitte retail expert. “The more they struggle to fill store-level employment, it will consider the more automation,” he added.
Tesla shares are sold for $963 million by Elon Musk:
Elon Musk is still selling Tesla stock. Tesla’s stock was down over 1% in pre-market trading on Friday, after falling 6% the day before. The stock dropped on Friday after Musk indicated he was considering quitting his job to become an influencer in a tweet, though it was unclear whether he was serious.
Musk sold at least $9.85 billion in His shares last month, including $6.9 billion the week before November 10 and another $1.9 billion on November 15 and 16. they sold a few of the claims to cover tax liabilities arising from the execution of stock options.
Musk invited his 62.5 million Twitter followers on November 6 to decide the fate of a portion of his Tesla asset. A total of 3,519,252 individuals voted, with 57.9% of them voting “Yes.”
This is because this will slam him with a tax bill of more than $15 billion in the not-too-distant future. Musk previously claimed that “he will sell a big chunk” of his stock in the fourth quarter. Musk said in September at the Code Summit in Beverly Hills, California, because when his Tesla share options expire, he would have a marginal tax rate of more than 50%, and that he will sell soon.
“I have a lot of choices that expire late next year,” he said, “so a significant block of options will sell in Q4 because I have to, or they will expire.” Since October 28, many current and former Tesla board members, including Robyn Denholm and Kimbal Musk, have sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Tesla shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
If US inflation rises, support appears to be in jeopardy: Price of Gold Support Looks Vulnerable If Inflation Rises in the US:
Friday morning, before the latest inflation data from the United States, Market expectations for a headline reading of 6.8% in November, down from a 30-year high of 6.2 percent in October, are being questioned, with some market experts predicting a print of 7% or higher.
Interest rate rises in the United States have lately been pushed out until the end of the first quarter, with the market currently pricing in three 0.25 percent hikes.
Gold has been relatively tranquil recently despite the sparks of volatility witnessed in other markets. Lately, the price movement has been trapped in a $30 range, and sellers have got the better hand this week, pushing gold down.
At $1,763/oz, the precious metal is barely $9 above a critical support level – the 50 percent Fibonacci Retracement of the March-August 2020 surge. If this support is broken, the following hostile target is the recent double low of $1,722/oz, which he hit at the end of September. A weaker-than-expected US CPI report might push gold back above $1,795 per ounce, breaking the current trend of lower highs.
We tend to be contrarians when it comes to crowd mood and the fact that traders are net-long on gold signals that prices will continue to decline. Traders are more net-long today than they were yesterday and last week. The present attitude combined with previous movements offers us a more significant Gold-bearish contrarian trading bias.
Also Read: Inflation in Germany is at its highest level in More Than 30 Years