Logistics Companies Slash Payrolls in Faltering Market.

"Package carriers, warehouse operators and other logistics companies are slashing payrolls as demand to ship goods wanes while the U.S. economy pivots toward spending on services.

Freight and parcel carriers cut more than 14,000 jobs from May to June, according to preliminary figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday. The drop marks the latest in a series of declines that follow a sharp surge in hiring during the pandemic, when strong e-commerce growth triggered a rush to expand supply chains from shipping docks to distribution centers.

The dwindling logistics employment came as the broader economy added 209,000 workers last month, according to the BLS report, a strong result but a slowdown from earlier in the year.

Most of the hiring growth came in services industries, with private service-providing companies adding 120,000 jobs in June, led by 73,000 added workers in private education and health services. Goods-producing businesses added 29,000 jobs, with most of the hiring in a construction sector that has been boosted by gains in home building.

Payrolls for courier and messenger companies, which includes the parcel carriers that deliver online orders, contracted by 7,000 jobs last month, according to BLS. That sector has cut more than 40,000 jobs since reaching a peak last October, during the peak shipping season.

Trucking employment, which jumped by 180,000 jobs during the pandemic, also edged down slightly and has been largely flat since March.

"The volumes aren't there," said Cathy Roberson, president of supply-chain research firm Logistics Trends & Insights. "Retailers are offering buy-online, pickup-in-store, curbside pickup. They're looking for ways to mitigate shipping costs by getting away from delivering orders."

At the same time, she said, companies including package carriers United Parcel Service and FedEx have stepped up automation in their facilities, so "they don't require as many people for sorting."

Roberson said she doesn't expect hiring to accelerate soon, even with the peak shipping season heading into the fourth-quarter holidays approaching. "Up until last year, the carriers started hiring peak-season workers early, even in August," she said. "I don't see that kind of urgency this year."

Warehousing and storage employment fell for the eighth straight month in June, according to BLS, with companies cutting payrolls by 6,900. Warehousing was one of the fastest-growing employment categories during the pandemic, benefiting from growth in e-commerce and a drive by retailers to restock depleted inventories, but hiring has contracted by 55,600 since hitting a peak in June 2022.

Warehousing employment remains far above prepandemic levels even as broader measures show demand is receding at a rapid pace.

Real-estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield said this week that the average national vacancy rate for industrial real estate jumped from 3.5% in the first quarter to 4.1% in the three months ending June 30.

The Logistics Managers' Index in June reached the lowest point in the six-and-a-half year history of the measure, which is jointly produced by supply chain departments at several universities." [1]

1. EXCHANGE --- Logistics Companies Slash Payrolls in Faltering Market. Page, Paul. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 July 2023: B.3.

Logistikos įmonės mažina darbo užmokesčio fondus šlubuojančioje rinkoje

 

 

„Paketų vežėjai, sandėlių operatoriai ir kitos logistikos įmonės mažina darbo užmokesčio fondus, nes mažėja prekių gabenimo paklausa, o JAV ekonomika krypsta į išlaidas paslaugoms.

 

     Remiantis preliminariais duomenimis, kuriuos penktadienį paskelbė Darbo statistikos biuras, krovinių ir siuntų vežėjai nuo gegužės iki birželio atleido iš daugiau, nei 14 000 darbo vietų. Sumažėjimas žymi naujausią nuosmukį, kuris įvyko po staigaus samdomų darbuotojų skaičiaus per pandemiją, kai spartus elektroninės prekybos augimas paskatino skubėti plėsti tiekimo grandines nuo laivybos dokų iki paskirstymo centrų.

 

     Remiantis BLS ataskaita, logistikos sektoriaus užimtumas mažėjo, kai platesnė ekonomika praėjusį mėnesį pridėjo 209 000 darbuotojų, o tai yra stiprus rezultatas, tačiau sulėtėjimas, palyginti su ankstesniais metais.

 

     Daugiausia samdomų darbuotojų padaugėjo paslaugų sektoriuose, privačios paslaugas teikiančios įmonės birželio mėn. pridėjo 120 000 darbo vietų, o 73 000 naujų darbuotojų priimta privačiose švietimo ir sveikatos priežiūros tarnybose. Prekes gaminančiose, įmonėse atsirado 29 000 darbo vietų, o didžioji dalis darbuotojų buvo įdarbinta statybų sektoriuje, kurį paskatino namų statyba.

 

     Remiantis BLS, praėjusį mėnesį kurjerių ir pasiuntinių kompanijų, įskaitant siuntų vežėjus, teikiančius užsakymus internetu, darbo užmokestis sumažėjo 7 000 darbo vietų. Šiame sektoriuje buvo atleista daugiau, nei 40 000 darbo vietų nuo tada, kai praėjusį spalį buvo pasiektas didžiausias laivybos sezonas.

 

     Užimtumas sunkvežimių transportu, kuris per pandemiją išaugo 180 000 darbo vietų, taip pat šiek tiek sumažėjo ir nuo kovo mėnesio beveik nesikeitė.

 

     „Tūrio nėra“, – sakė Cathy Roberson, tiekimo grandinės tyrimų įmonės „Logistics Trends & Insights“ prezidentė. "Mažmenininkai siūlo pirkti internetu, atsiėmimą parduotuvėje, atsiėmimą prie gatvės. Jie ieško būdų, kaip sumažinti siuntimo išlaidas, išvengiant užsakymų pristatymo."

 

     Tuo pačiu metu, pasak jos, įmonės, įskaitant siuntų vežėjus „United Parcel Service“ ir „FedEx“, sustiprino savo patalpų automatizavimą, todėl „joms nereikia tiek daug žmonių rūšiavimui“.

 

     Roberson teigė, kad nesitiki, kad įdarbinimas greitai paspartės, net ir artėjant didžiausiam laivybos sezonui, artėjant ketvirtojo ketvirčio atostogoms. „Iki praėjusių metų vežėjai piko sezono darbuotojus pradėjo samdyti anksti, net rugpjūtį“, – sakė ji. – Šiemet tokios skubos nematau."

 

     Anot BLS,  sandėliavimo užimtumas birželį sumažėjo aštuntą mėnesį iš eilės, o įmonės sumažino darbo užmokestį 6 900 darbo vietoms. Sandėliavimas buvo viena iš sparčiausiai augančių užimtumo kategorijų per pandemiją, kuriai buvo naudinga auganti elektroninė prekyba ir mažmenininkų siekis papildyti išeikvotas atsargas, tačiau nuo tada, kai 2022 m. birželio mėn. buvo pikas, dirbančiųjų skaičius sumažėjo 55 600.

 

     Sandėliavimo užimtumas tebėra daug didesnis ,nei priešpandeminis lygis, net jei platesnės priemonės rodo, kad paklausa sparčiai mažėja.

 

     Nekilnojamojo turto paslaugų įmonė „Cushman & Wakefield“ šią savaitę pranešė, kad vidutinis šalies pramoninio nekilnojamojo turto laisvų darbo vietų lygis šoktelėjo nuo 3,5% pirmąjį ketvirtį iki 4,1% per tris mėnesius, pasibaigusius birželio 30 d.

 

     Logistikos vadybininkų indeksas birželį pasiekė žemiausią tašką per šešis su puse metų trukmės priemonės, kurią kartu rengia kelių universitetų tiekimo grandinės padaliniai, istoriją.“ [1]

 

1. EXCHANGE --- Logistics Companies Slash Payrolls in Faltering Market. Page, Paul. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 July 2023: B.3.

Beijing Flexes Muscle Over Minerals Needed To Start A New, Sustainable, Economy

 

Time is of essence today. If because of the actions of our politicians, we, the West, the golden billion of people,  will be slow to get minerals from China, somebody from the rest, 7 billion people, will get the minerals earlier. On this basis, somebody will take over the new, sustainable, economy in the global market. We will be left in the dust. Goats will be browsing the streets of our cities again. To our huge disadvantage we discounted the actions of those 7 billion, when in vain trying to destroy the Russian economy with recent sanctions. We would be well advised to stop repeating this mistake, trying to ruin China's economy with sanctions. 

 

"SINGAPORE -- China's decision this week to restrict the export of two minerals used in semiconductors, solar panels and missile systems was more than a trade salvo. It was a reminder of its dominant hold over the world's mineral resources -- and a warning of its willingness to use them in its escalating rivalry with the U.S.

About two-thirds of the world's lithium and cobalt -- essential for electric cars -- is processed in China. The country is the source of nearly 60% of aluminum, also used in EV batteries, and 80% of polysilicon, an ingredient in solar panels. It has an even tighter grip on rare-earth minerals that go into crucial technologies, such as making smartphone touch screens and missile-defense systems, accounting for 90% of their refining, according to the International Energy Agency.

Chinese companies also often control processing that isn't done at home. A significant share of the world's nickel supply, for instance, comes directly from China, but much of the rest also is in Chinese hands, refined by companies from China in places such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

China's hold over these minerals gives it the power to potentially disrupt the West's energy transition, chip manufacturing and defense industries as its rivalry with the U.S. heats up. A Chinese move to restrict exports of, say, lithium or cobalt would hit non-Chinese automakers hard, throwing the production of electric-car batteries into disarray.

Such extreme measures are unlikely in the near term, not least because they also would hurt Chinese businesses, but experts say they aren't off the table. "We would be foolish to limit our thinking that that kind of thing is impossible," said Morgan Bazilian, director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines. "If you keep ratcheting up your tit-for-tat, that's one area it could go."

Beijing's restrictions on the export of gallium and germanium announced Monday followed U.S. steps in October to limit Chinese access to equipment used to make advanced chips. The Chinese curbs are expected to add urgency to Western efforts to develop alternative mineral sources.

The Biden administration has prioritized scaling back U.S. reliance on Chinese minerals, mainly through its signature green-investment program known as the Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 law provides subsidies for electric-vehicle batteries that contain minerals mined and refined in the U.S. and friendly nations -- an effort to build supply chains that don't run through China.

Another recent law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, provides millions of dollars in grants to advance critical-minerals mining and authorizes federal loans for projects that boost domestic supply of the resources.

Money has begun flowing under various U.S. policies. Ireland-based TechMet, whose projects include nickel and cobalt mining in Brazil, has received $55 million since 2020 from a U.S. agency, the International Development Finance Corp., in exchange for about a 15% stake in the company. This year, TechMet began exporting a nickel product it processes in Brazil for use in Western EVs, and is raising private and public funding to expand its mine.

In the U.S., Talon Metals is seeking permits to begin mining nickel in Minnesota. The Energy Department selected the company for a $114 million grant for a battery-mineral processing facility in North Dakota. That is more than a quarter of the estimated project cost, according to the company.

Building new supply chains can't happen overnight. Mines take years to develop, with processes to obtain environmental clearances in Western countries adding to long lead times. Trained workers are in short supply. Many ore-rich countries are politically unstable or lacking in environmental credibility, which deters Western firms even as Chinese ones, often backed directly or indirectly by Beijing, are willing to forge ahead." [1]

1. World News: Beijing Flexes Muscle Over Minerals. Emont, Jon. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 July 2023: A.7.

Kodėl Zelenskio armija yra kvailas pokštas?

 "Tradicinė karinė doktrina teigia, kad puolančios pajėgos turėtų turėti pranašumą ore ir turėti pranašumą 3 prieš 1 su kareiviais, kad galėtų stabiliai žengti į priekį prieš įsitvirtinusį priešininką. Zelenskio armija neturi nei vieno, nei kito."

1. The Future of Conflict Has Come in Ukraine: Drone Swarms. Schmidt, Eric. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 July 2023: A.13.