Jul 17, 2017 - Economy & Business

The finance world is worried about automation

Chuck Burton / AP

A quarter of all financial services professionals are worried automation is going to negatively impact their job security, according to a LinkedIn survey.

Context: It's already happening. The Department of Labor projects employment for bank tellers will decline 8% from 2014 to 2024, for example.

The most worried finance professional: Retail bankers, with 34% saying automation was a significant concern.

Hedge your bets: 29% of financial advisors and wealth managers said the biggest threat to fintech is "reduced interaction" and less "feedback from human-client relationships."

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Hans Nichols, Stef W. Kight

9 mins ago - Politics & Policy

2020 election strategy: Hire all the lawyers

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

The coronavirus has sent overall U.S. unemployment into the double digits — but it's a sort of full-employment act for election law attorneys.

The big picture: The prospect of extended court fights over COVID-19-related voting changes, an absentee ballot avalanche, foreign interference and contested presidential results has prompted a hire-all-the-lawyers binge by candidates and campaigns — not just in swing states but around the country.

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Neal Rothschild

49 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Right-wing media defanged by dissolving anti-Biden storylines

Data: NewsWhip; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios

The three biggest anti-Joe Biden storylines in right-wing media over the last year have either fizzled or are getting less online traction than they used to, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.

Why it matters: This dynamic has rendered a formidable media ecosystem less effective in boosting President Trump as we move into the heart of the 2020 campaign.

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Caitlin Owens, Andrew Witherspoon

49 mins ago - Health

A coronavirus alarm bell is going off in the Midwest

Data: The COVID Tracking Project; Note: Positive rate shown is the 7-day average from June 1 to Aug. 6, 2020; Cartogram: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

A cluster of states in the Midwest are seeing more of their coronavirus tests coming back positive — potentially an early indicator of a growing outbreak.

The state of play: A high positive rate means that a higher share of those getting tested are sick. That could be because there are more sick people, or because a state isn't doing enough testing.