Hybrid work is here to stay, and if cities are to thrive, they must adapt to the new reality that workers will be downtown less often. That’s according to a new report that analyzes the COVID-19 pandemic’s lasting impact on office and retail space.

“What has fundamentally changed is just the broad uptake and the persistence of hybridity,” says Ryan Luby, an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm that released the report. “And that has knock-on implications for demand for office, for residential, for retail, what kind of space is demanded, where it is demanded, and that has real implications for urban vitality, vibrancy and the kinds of buildings that we demand.”

Now that they aren’t making their daily commutes to downtown offices, people are doing their eating out and shopping elsewhere. The report finds that foot traffic near stores in urban areas is still 10% to 20% lower than pre-pandemic levels, and office attendance is still down by about 30% on average in major cities across the world.

The New York City metropolitan area lost 5% of its population from mid-2020 to mid-2022, while the San Francisco area lost 6%. The numbers suggest that many of the people who left big cities during the pandemic are not moving back, the report said, which presents another challenge for cities trying to bounce back from pandemic-driven losses.

In Washington, the daytime population plunged 82% from February 2020 to February 2021. And a 2023 poll finds that two-thirds of Washington-area workers whose jobs can be done remotely prefer to work from home a majority of the time. Thirty-eight percent of people surveyed said they’d like to work from home all of the time.

City leaders and planners are preparing for a future that adjusts to this new reality.

“About 50 percent of our population can still remote work,” says Salah Czapary, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture. “Some neighborhoods have not returned to pre-COVID levels of economic activity. … Our short-term strategy is activating the space, attracting festivals and making it easier for people to close streets — whether it’s for a farmers market or a music festival downtown — doing that to support what has traditionally been our economic engine of the city, which has been downtown.”

Luby, one of the report’s authors, says the most resilient cities have a mixture of office, residential and retail real estate.

“People are coming into those areas for reasons other than work,” he says. “I think the imperative, as we think about it from the public policy perspective, is really to encourage or incentivize what we think about as mixed-use development, in which folks will be present in these areas for reasons other than just work.”

Washington’s city leaders, for example, are looking for ways to meet the moment.

“Our long-term strategy is really attracting new residents to downtown by changing the buildings from commercial to residential,” Czapary says. “That will eventually attract grocery stores and other types of nightlife and restaurants and things that make neighborhoods attractive to live in.”

By 2030, demand for office space will be an average of 13% lower in major cities around the world than it was in 2019, according to the report. San Francisco is the most affected city in the United States in terms of demand for office space, with sale prices per square foot down 24% compared with 2019, while the asking price for rents is 28% lower than in 2019. The report also predicts that demand for retail space in San Francisco will be 17% lower in 2030 than in 2019.

Adjusting to this new reality could take time, Luby says, because people who own office space in major cities are still expecting prices to rebound as they did in pre-pandemic times.

“Because a commercial real estate office, in particular, tends to be on a five- to-10-year lease, you’ve got a slow-motion dynamic playing out,” Luby says. “And until you get buyers and sellers in the market to agree that we’re in a new normal and adjusting prices downwards, it’s really going to be difficult to get at-scale adjust
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India and Sri Lanka boosted their economic partnership by signing a series of agreements on energy, trade and connectivity projects following talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in New Delhi on Friday.

Wickremesinghe was on his first visit to India since he took charge a year ago after an economic crisis engulfed the country and led to the resignation of his predecessor.

He came to New Delhi as both sides reset a relationship that has been set back by growing Chinese influence in the strategic island nation that lies on India’s southern tip. Before Sri Lanka’s economy collapsed, Beijing had poured in billions of dollars to build infrastructure projects that India feared could affect its security.

India provided aid last year

Ties between Colombo and New Delhi received fresh momentum last year, though, after India extended $4 billion in aid to help the beleaguered country.

Addressing reporters along with Wickremesinghe, Modi said that being a close friend, India had stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with its neighbor during the crisis and that a prosperous Sri Lanka was key to regional stability.

“Sri Lanka has an important place in our ‘neighborhood first’ policy,” Modi said. “We believe that the security interests and development of India and Sri Lanka are intertwined.”

Wickremesinghe said that his visit had “reinforced trust and confidence for our future prosperity in the modern world.”

In a signal of deepening bilateral ties, the two countries unveiled an economic partnership vision that focused on enhancing connectivity and investments.

Modi said the two sides will conduct feasibility studies on laying a petroleum line between the two countries that would give Sri Lanka access to affordable energy. They also will explore the possibility of building a land bridge. The closest points between the two countries are just 50 kilometers apart.

The two countries also will work to connect their electricity grids and cooperate in the renewable energy sector. New Delhi will develop a port and an economic hub at Trincomalee, on Sri Lanka’s northeastern coast.

The two leaders also expressed support to implement a plan for the Sri Lankan government to share power with the country’s ethnic minority Tamil population that lives in the island’s north and east provinces. The Tamils of Sri Lanka have long had close ties with Tamils living in southern India.

“We hope that the government of Sri Lanka will fulfill the aspirations of the Tamils,” Modi said.

Optimistic about recovery

Wickremesinghe expressed optimism about economic recovery in his country, which secured a $3 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund in March.

“I have set Sri Lanka firmly on a path of economic reform,” he said.

For Sri Lanka, a top priority is to get countries like India and China to agree to a debt restructuring plan. Last year, the country defaulted on its $46 billion foreign debt.

But balancing ties with India and China still poses a challenge. Last year, Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese research vessel, Yuan Wang 5, to dock in a port built by Beijing — despite objections by New Delhi, which feared it was a spy ship.

Wickremesinghe’s visit to India, however — his first overseas trip since becoming president — underscores that ties between the two neighbors are again set on a growth trajectory.
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Напередодні Нацбанк заявив, що виводить із ринку системно важливий «Сенс Банк», раніше відомий як «Альфа-банк»
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Проєкт проаналізував дані від платформи United24, фонду «Повернись живим» і Фонду Сергія Притули
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The labor movement in the United States is having an unusually active moment, with as many as four high-profile strikes possible and a level of coordination among separate unions that experts say has been lacking in recent years. 

In May, the Writers Guild of America, which represents film and television screenwriters, went on strike, followed last week by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The combination of the two has brought production of film and television programs in the U.S. to a near-complete halt. 

While labor action in Hollywood has garnered plenty of headlines, its day-to-day impact on average Americans has been limited. That will not be the case if two other major unions, both in contract negotiations right now, wind up on the picket lines. 

The United Auto Workers union (UAW) is negotiating with automakers General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — the so-called Big Three — to try to avert a strike that could result in hundreds of thousands of autoworkers walking off the job. At the same time, the Teamsters union is in discussions with shipping giant United Parcel Service over its contract with delivery drivers. A strike by either or both would be deeply felt across the U.S. 

Changing atmosphere 

The labor movement in the United States has been in a period of protracted decline for several decades. In the mid-20th century, fully one-third of U.S. workers belonged to unions, and it was not uncommon in any given year to see thousands of strikes, with workers in the millions across multiple industries walking off the job for some period of time. 

In 1974, at the peak of labor job actions, the federal government counted 6,074 individual strikes across the country, according to data gathered by Judith Stepan-Norris and Jasmine Kerrissey for their recent book, Union Booms and Busts: The Ongoing Fight Over the U.S. Labor Movement. 

That began to decline in the 1980s, as legal protections for employers became stronger and the courts became less friendly to labor. Strikes increasingly ended with little or no benefits for the workers involved, while many lost a major source of income for the duration of their work stoppages. Union membership fell, and by 2014, the U.S. saw only 68 strikes in total. Today, union members make up only about 6% of working Americans.

Possible turnaround 

Stepan-Norris, an emerita professor of sociology at the University of California-Irvine, told VOA there are multiple factors that appear to be animating the movement in 2023. She said the coronavirus pandemic and a trend of people leaving the workforce, called by many the “Great Resignation,” changed the dynamic significantly.  

“That gave workers more power. You had more of a strong labor market with low unemployment,” Stepan-Norris said.  

In addition, she said, they have had the example of some recent successful strikes. Last year, for example, academic workers led a massive strike against the University of California system, which resulted in major concessions in workers’ favor.  

“Other workers are looking around and seeing that these strikes are starting to show some progress for people, and so other workers are getting a taste that they can do it, too,” she said. “Not to say that any of these new strikes are directly related to that — it’s just sort of the atmosphere [of success] that surrounds them.” 

Horizontal solidarity 

Susan Schurman, who teaches labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University, told VOA that in recent labor actions, she has seen a dynamic at play that has not been present recently: cross-union cooperation. 

“The last time the Writers Guild went on strike, SAG-AFTRA didn’t even show up,” Schurman said. “This time, I went to a couple of rallies in New York and the stage actors — Actors Equity —  were there. The stagehands [the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees] were there. The Teamsters were there. The Communication Workers [of America] were there. The building trades were there.  

“We call this ‘horizontal labor solidarity’ across unions,” Schurman said. “This is when labor really makes gains. It’s important that you have what we call ‘vertical solidarity,’ within your own union. You have to have that in order to engage in a strike. But it’s not enough. You have to have the support of other unions.” 

Horizontal solidarity was commonplace in the mid-20th century, she said, but has not been a notable factor in labor job actions in several decades.  

“We have not seen that, like we’re seeing this summer, in a very long time,” she said.

Autoworkers dispute 

The UAW has a long history of striking in order to achieve better contracts for its members, and the current contracts with GM, Ford and Stellantis are all scheduled to expire in September. 

Shawn Fain, the leader of the UAW, announced last week that his 160,000 members are prepared to put down their tools and that blame for any work stoppage will lie with the companies’ management. 

“If the Big Three don’t give us our fair share, then they’re choosing to strike themselves, and we’re not afraid to take action,” he told reporters last week. 

In a sign of how acrimonious the discussions have become, Fain broke with tradition and refused to meet company executives for a public handshake as negotiations got under way, as other UAW leaders have done in the past.  

The automakers themselves have said they want to reach a deal but point out that they are trying to remake their companies for a world in which electric vehicles are expected to replace many of the gasoline-powered cars and trucks they currently produce. They warn that the transition will lead to inevitable disruption for their workforce. 

Teamsters and UPS 

The Teamsters union represents 340,000 UPS workers poised to strike on August 1. The contract negotiations, which broke down in early July and restarted just this week, are focused on compensation for workers. 

One key point is that as the job market has tightened over the past year, the company has been forced to raise the starting salaries it offers in order to attract more workers. However, it did not also raise the wages of many of its more experienced workers. This means that some UPS employees with years of seniority are earning wages equivalent to those of new hires. 

A strike by UPS workers could be damaging economically, with the think tank Anderson Economic Group estimating that a 10-day stoppage would cost upward of $7 billion when workers’ lost pay, the company’s lost profits and damage to UPS customers are combined. 

In a statement that accompanied the announcement that it would return to the bargaining table, the delivery company emphasized the need for a prompt resolution to the problem. 

“We are prepared to increase our industry-leading pay and benefits, but need to work quickly to finalize a fair deal that provides certainty for our customers, our employees and businesses across the country,” it said.
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After Russia withdrew from a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain through ports on the Black Sea, the Kremlin launched attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain hubs. Anna Kosstutschenko spoke with Ukrainian farmers about how this will impact them. VOA footage by Pavel Suhodolskiy
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Nigeria’s weak electric grid had led many of its citizens to rely on gasoline-fueled generators for power. But the president’s controversial removal of a costly fuel subsidy in May saw gasoline prices triple, spurring Nigerians to switch to generators fueled by cheaper and cleaner propane.

Rasheed Ayodeji, a lawyer in Abuja, is one of more than 10,000 Nigerians who have switched to generators powered by liquefied petroleum gas.

The switch to LPG, also known as propane, is in response to the cost of gasoline, which has tripled since authorities ended a fuel subsidy in May.

Ayodeji said that powering his generator with cooking gas is less expensive.

“I was skeptical at first, so I said let me just give it a try because I am someone that, I’m not resistant to change. … With my experience so far with this one week, my fuel expenses have been cut by 50% for now, and with the gas I still have left, I’m very sure it will still cut up to 60%.”

In 2013, Philip Obin started importing hybrid carburetors that converted gasoline generators to run on LPG. For years, demand was slow.

A decade later, however, his sales reached a new peak. He said that following the fuel subsidy removal, he sold more than 10,000 units in less than three weeks.  

“The product is selling like wildfire, and that’s because of the cost of petrol, which has moved from 190 or 180 to 550 or 540 per liter across Nigeria…We call them hybrid in the sense that it allows you to run either on petrol or cooking gas LPG,” he said.  

Obin said the switch is easy and simple to make.

“Essentially, you have to pull out the existing carburetor from your generator and install the hybrid carburetor, then you plug in the gas cylinder with your regulator, of course, and then you power up your generator, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

Some people are concerned about the safety of using cooking gas in generators that were originally designed to work with gasoline.

Obin said there has never been a single incident with the carburetor over the past decade.

“We’ve not had a single case of explosion arising from someone using our hybrid carburetor to run generators,” he said.

However, Chuks Edison, an Abuja-based electrical expert and generator repairman, recommends that people exercise caution during installation.

“If you must go into it, you must be very careful. Put so much measure in place, and make sure that your generator is in good condition, that it doesn’t have some kind of leakage, or the plug head must be there because the plug head is the most important one…you must keep your cylinder very far from the generator,” he said.

Authorities from Lagos State are also assessing the safety of the product. 
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Canada’s recently launched immigration work permit program is no longer accepting new applications since receiving an overwhelming response and reaching its cap of 10,000 applicants in two days.

Aiming to attract highly skilled technology professionals from the United States with H-1B work visas, Canada unveiled the initiative in late June.

Within 48 hours of its July 16 launch, the system reached capacity.

“Status: Closed. You can no longer apply,” said a message on the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website. “We reached the cap of 10,000 applications for this initiative on July 17, 2023.”

H-1B visas are for nonimmigrant foreign workers with specialized skills, and the move is part of the country’s new Tech Talent Strategy.

“The Government of Canada is embracing Canada’s emerging role as a leader in global tech talent recruitment and attraction to ensure Canada is not only filling in-demand jobs today, but also attracting the skills and business talent to create the jobs of tomorrow,” said an IRCC statement issued last month.

The statement followed a November announcement in which the government set a goal to tackle an impending labor shortage.

By 2025, the country wants to welcome 1.45 million immigrants, focusing on people trained in health care and other in-demand job skills, and securing a skilled workforce for key sectors of its economy.

Canada’s population of 38.25 million represents about 11.5% of the 331.9 million in the United States, where the H-1B visa category currently allows more than 85,000 highly skilled foreigners to work in the country for at least three years.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported that for fiscal year 2024, the agency received 780,884 applications from employers and approved 110,791 applications. In fiscal 2023, applications totaled 483,927, and 127,600 people were selected.

Canada’s new work program does not lead to permanent residence, but spouses and dependents of the 10,000 H-1B visa holders will be eligible to apply for study or work permits or temporary resident visas.

In the U.S., holders of H-1B visas can apply for legal permanent residence, but only the spouses of those with a pending residence application are eligible for employment authorization.

It remains to be seen how successful Canada will be in poaching workers from the U.S.
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