A growing number of U.S. employers are requiring bachelor's degrees for jobs that have long been performed by workers without them, contributing to a rise in income inequality, according to a report published today.
Why it matters: The report, by Harvard Business School, Accenture, and Grads of Life estimates that 6 million American jobs are at risk of "degree inflation," a result of employers increasingly using a bachelor's degree "as a proxy for a candidate's range and depth of skills."
Data: Harvard Business School and Accenture analysis; Note: 2015 Burning Glass data, BLS' Occupational Employment Statistics, and American Community Survey data for 2010–2015; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon, Chris Canipe / Axios
Twitter announced Tuesday that it would increase transparency around ads tied to political candidates on the platform, along with more moderate disclosures for other ads.
Why it matters: Twitter — like Facebook before it — is responding to pressure from lawmakers concerned about the way Russian actors were able to buy ads focused on divisive political issues during the election.
The iconic Lord & Taylor flagship building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan will soon be WeWork's new headquarters, per the WSJ. The seven-year-old startup is buying the building, which was officially named a city landmark in 2007, for $850 million in a deal that Lord & Taylor's parent company, Hudson's Bay, hopes will help reduce its debt.
Why it matters: The deal is the latest example of the heightened pressures that have slammed the retail industry in recent years. And while retail giants once did well in grandiose shopping spaces, that real estate has now proven to garner more value in serving the needs of millennial workers.
After a 101-year marriage, Sears and Whirlpool are severing ties: America's quintessential big-box department store will no longer sell America's best-selling washing machine or other Whirlpool appliances.
Why it matters: In another sign of traditional retail's existential struggle, the divorce reflects Sears' seemingly inexorable loss of touch both with its shoppers and Wall Street. At a time Amazon is raking in one conquest after another, Sears may be jeopardizing one of its very few remaining strongholds — its hold on the major appliance market.
Forget politics. The culture wars are raging in corporate America, and many CEOs and businesses are grossly unprepared. The war gets ignited by employees, shareholders, customers and social media. The wave of sexual-harassment scandals shows that companies have crime in their workplace. And the new, high-stakes collisions CEOs are getting pulled into include immigration, climate change, diversity and inclusiveness, and whether their ads run on controversial websites.
The problem: Most big companies are run by straight, white men who are unaccustomed to navigating a fast-changing America. And most comms departments were built for 1990s media, with 1990s speed.
A whopping 42% of children ages 0-8 have their own tablet device, up from less than 1% in 2011, according to Common Sense Media's newest national "Media Use by Kids" census.
Key numbers: Families with young children are now more likely to have a subscription video service such as Netflix or Hulu (72%) than they are to have cable TV (65%). 10% of kids age 8 or under own a "smart" toy that connects to the internet and 9% have a voice-activated virtual assistant device available to them in the home, such as an Amazon Echo or Google Home.
Some of the biggest names in conservative digital media are seeing big traffic declines over the past year, according to comScore data pulled by Activate and Axios. On the other hand, business-centric sites, like CNBC, Business Insider, and Bloomberg are seeing big traffic bumps, per the analysis.
Note: Both IJR and the Daily Caller have challenged the analysis. IJR founder Alex Skatell tweeted that his site had cancelled its comScore subscription, while Daily Caller editor in chief Geoffrey Ingersoll said his site uses Quantcast and tweeted screenshots showing Daily Caller traffic compared to last year.
