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The latest employment numbers have dropped—and the job market still looks tough for workers. Today’s jobs report shares data from November, which was delayed due to the government shutdown that lifted last month. As jobs growth has slowed in recent months, the unemployment rate has climbed to 4.6%, up from 4.4% in September and the highest it has been in four years. Employers added only 64,000 jobs in November, and the market also shed 105,000 jobs the month prior. Wage growth has stagnated to a degree that hasn’t been seen since 2021. The jobs report seems to confirm what many workers are likely encountering as they try to navigate the current job market: Employ…

Kraft Heinz announced on Tuesday that new CEO Steve Cahillane will join the food giant to help steer its split into two companies. The former head of Kellanova joins the ailing food giant after years of declining sales and slow growth, and as shares are down 75% since 2017. In 2026, the company will split into two independent, publicly traded companies, Global Taste Elevation Co. and North American Grocery Co., with the first focused on condiments and the Heinz ketchup brand, and the second on Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles, and Lunchables brands. Cahillane comes on board January 1, 2026 and will serve as chief executive officer of the first of those companies, which …

The country’s automotive future doesn’t look as electric as carmakers had once hoped. But it doesn’t mean the EV industry is entirely dead. On Monday, Ford Motor Company announced that it’s taking major steps to pull back on its EV-focused future. The automaker is scrapping plans to produce a new electric truck, repurposing an EV battery plant to produce storage for the grid, and converting its fully electric F-150 Lightning into a hybrid. It’s also planning to expand its gas and hybrid options. The strategy shift away from fully electric vehicles will cost the automaker $19.5 billion. Ford’s stock has been mostly flat since the news was announced, with share…

Automakers Hyundai and Kia must offer free repairs to millions of models under a settlement announced Tuesday by Minnesota’s attorney general, who led an effort by dozens of states that argued the vehicles weren’t equipped with proper anti-theft technology, leaving them vulnerable to theft. Under the nationwide settlement, the companies will offer a free repair to all eligible vehicles at a cost that could top $500 million, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said. Hyundai and Kia must also outfit all future vehicles sold in the U.S. with a key piece of technology called an engine immobilizer and pay up to $4.5 million of restitution to people whose vehicles were…

The U.S. stock market is drifting lower on Tuesday following mixed data on the economy’s strength, which did little to clear uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% in afternoon trading and remains a bit below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 271 points, or 0.6%, as of 1:53 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged. Treasury yields eased a bit, following a larger initial drop, after one report said the U.S. unemployment rate was at its worst level last month since 2021, but employers also added more jobs than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, …

If you’ve ever been to a museum or on a school field trip, you may have had a tour guide walk you through a historical exhibit of 19th-century households or of ancient Mesopotamian agricultural tools. Now, a current TikTok trend suggests that one day in the future, those exhibits will be the modern workstation—standing desks, Zoom meeting headsets, and all. The viral series titled “Historical tour of a corporate worker’s desk,” by marketing professional and content creator Heike Young, imagines what that will look like. “Now in those times, it would have been really common for a corporate worker to sit at a desk, much like this one, and be on calls all day,” she …

When the government shutdown came to an end last month, the much-delayed jobs report for September was finally released, revealing that the unemployment rate had inched up to 4.4%—the highest it had been in four years. Amid a tough job market and economic uncertainty, it’s little surprise that unemployment is on the rise again. In the latest jobs dispatch that was published today, unemployment had ticked up to 4.6% for the month of November. But it’s a specific segment of the workforce that is most acutely feeling the effects of this spike in unemployment: For Black workers, the rate has stretched to 8.3%, up from 6%, in just the last six months. The rate among white…

AI has now arrived at the Treasury Department. Sam Corcos, a former startup leader and Department of Government Efficiency affiliate now serving as chief information officer at the Treasury Department, appears to have approved spending at least $1.5 million on up to 3,000 licenses for ChatGPT, the OpenAI platform, federal spending records show. The agency has obligations to spend $1.5 million on the services, and has already outlaid more than $500,000 for the technology, those records show. Fast Company obtained a user agreement showing that Treasury is allowing employees to use ChatGPT for “authorized” mission purposes. Such purposes include using the technolog…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. While national active inventory for sale is still rising year-over-year, the pace of growth has slowed in recent months—something we’ve been closely documenting for several months for our ResiClub members. The side-by-side maps below help you to see that decelerated rate of inventory growth: Left map: Year-over-year change in metro level active inventory between November 2023 and November 2024 Right map: Year-over-year change in metro level active inventory between November 2024 and November 2025 Click to expand Between November 2023 a…

Earlier this month, the State Department announced that it was instructing U.S. embassy staff around the world to reject work visa applications from individuals involved in what it described as “censorship” of Americans’ speech online. In a cable that was first leaked to Reuters, consular officers were instructed to review LinkedIn profiles of visa applicants mentioning work history involving “misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance, and online safety.” This work includes journalists and fact-checkers, academics, people working in media literacy, and a broad range of tech workers in a field known as “Trust and Safety.” This isn’t…

The amount of electricity data centers use in the U.S. in the coming years is expected to be significant. But regular reports of proposals for new ones and cancellations of planned ones mean that it’s difficult to know exactly how many data centers will actually be built and how much electricity might be required to run them. As a researcher of energy policy who has studied the cost challenges associated with new utility infrastructure, I know that uncertainty comes with a cost. In the electricity sector, it is the challenge of state utility regulators to decide who pays what shares of the costs associated with generating and serving these types of operations, sometim…

China will impose tariffs of up to 19.8% on pork imports from the European Union, a drastic drop from preliminary tariffs of up to 62.4%, its Commerce Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry’s announcement followed an investigation the Chinese side launched into imports of pork from the trading bloc after the EU imposed provisional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. Beijing also levied anti-dumping duties on European brandy, most notably cognac produced in France, though major brandy producers received exemptions. Imports of dairy products from the EU likewise were subject to anti-dumping probes. The EU runs a massive trade deficit with China: over 300 billi…

We all have goals, but at least some of the difference in achieving those goals comes down to how you frame them. In a study published in PLOS One, the researchers separated participants’ goals into two basic categories: Avoidance goals: stopping or preventing an undesired behavior. “Stop ignoring interpersonal issues between employees.” So is “stop putting off important tasks.” So is “stop watching so much TV.” So is anything you want, or wish, to stop doing or do less often. Approach goals: adopting a new behavior. “Complete the most important task on my to-do list every day.” So is “Compliment at least one employee every day.” So is “Eat at least one servi…

For many people, the winter holiday period is their favorite time of the year. It’s weeks full of family, friends, gifts, and cozy indoor get-togethers. But those social gatherings are among the main reasons why the flu spreads so readily at this time of year. And this year, a so-called “superflu” variant known as subclade K is set to make things even worse. Here’s what you need to know. When is flu season? Flu season is officially in full swing. It’s the time of year when flu viruses are most rampant, and infections tend to spike before finally decreasing and leveling off. Most people know that flu season usually occurs in the winter months, but the …

President Donald The President filed a lawsuit Monday seeking $10 billion in damages from the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of defamation as well as deceptive and unfair trade practices. The 33-page lawsuit accuses the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction of President The President,” calling it “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It accused the BBC of “splicing together two entirely separate parts of President The President’s speech on January 6, 2021” in order to “intentionally misrepresent the meaning of what President The President said.” The …

If you want to recycle an old electric toothbrush or pair of headphones with a lithium battery embedded inside, it can be hard to find a place to do it—and many existing battery collection boxes are fire risks. That’s why Redwood Materials, the battery recycling and energy storage company founded by ex-Tesla engineer JB Straubel, just redesigned the collection bin. The new bins, rolling out first in San Francisco stores in partnership with the city’s environmental department, can accept any type of rechargeable device, from phones to electric razors, earbuds, and loose lithium batteries. When someone drops a battery or device into a slot, the bin automatically lowers …

The The President administration said in a court filing Monday that the president’s White House ballroom construction project must continue for unexplained national security reasons and because a preservationists’ organization that wants it stopped has no standing to sue. The filing was in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation asking a federal judge to halt President Donald The President’s project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and a public comment period and wins approval from Congress. The administration’s 36-page filing included a declaration from Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the U.S. Secre…

Vega Farms, a California-based food producer, has voluntarily recalled Vega Farms-branded in-shell eggs due to a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 60 people and led to more than a dozen hospitalizations. Here’s what you need to know about the outbreak, impacted products and retailers, and what to do if you have the recalled eggs in your possession: How many people got sick? In a notice posted on Friday, December 12, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warns businesses and consumers to avoid eating, serving, or selling recalled in-shell Vega Farms eggs. According to the agency, 63 California residents have reported illnesses lin…

On a recent December day, Mark Latino and a handful of his workers spun sheets of vinyl into tinsel for Christmas tree branches. They worked on a custom-made machine that’s nearly a century old, churning out strands of bright silver tinsel along its 35-foot (10-meter) length. Latino is the CEO of Lee Display, a Fairfield, California-based company that his great-grandfather founded in 1902. Back then, it specialized in handmade velvet and silk flowers for hats. Now, it’s one of the only companies in the United States that still makes artificial Christmas trees, producing around 10,000 each year. Tariffs and trees Tariffs shone a twinkling light this year on fake Ch…

What’s up, type nerds? Fast Company’s latest print issue features some of the brightest minds in AI, and creative director Mike Schnaidt wanted to choose a typeface that looked futuristic. So go pick up a copy now. View the full article

The Powerball jackpot has grown to an estimated $1.25 billion for Wednesday night’s drawing after lottery officials said no ticket matched all six numbers drawn Monday night. The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. Here is a look at the largest U.S. jackpots won and the places where the winning tickets were sold: $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Los Angeles-area gas station. $1.787 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025. The winning tickets were sold in Missouri and Texas. $1.765 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in a tiny Califo…

I have a confession to make. For most of my career in creative leadership roles, I have contributed to collaboration overload. I believed that bringing everyone together to swap ideas was the surest path to stronger work. If the room was full and the conversation was flowing, I assumed we were headed in the right direction. And I know I’m not alone. Collaboration overload has crept into creative teams everywhere—shaped by hybrid schedules, the pressure to stay visible when we’re apart, and a steady flow of digital tools like Slack and Teams that keep us connected but can slowly chip away at focus. Creative teams have reached a point where we are spending so mu…

The U.S. job market is sluggish and confusing this fall. American companies are mostly holding onto the employees they have. But they’re reluctant to hire new ones as they struggle to assess how to use artificial intelligence and how to adjust to President Donald The President’s unpredictable policies, especially his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world. The uncertainty leaves jobseekers struggling to find work or even land interviews. Federal Reserve policymakers are divided over whether the labor market needs more help from lower interest rates. Their deliberations are rendered more difficult because official reports on the economy’s health are coming i…

The Mozilla Corporation, maker of the popular Firefox web browser, has announced the appointment of a new CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, general manager of Firefox, will become top boss at a time when Mozilla is trying to rebrand itself as “the world’s most trusted software company.” Here’s why and what you need to know about Mozilla’s new CEO. Who is Anthony Enzor-DeMeo? As of today, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo is Mozilla Corporation’s new chief executive officer. However, while his position may be new, his involvement with Mozilla is not. Enzor-DeMeo was previously the general manager of Firefox, which is Mozilla’s most well-known product. Under Enzor-DeMeo’s…

Weight-loss giant Weight Watchers is relaunching itself for the Ozempic era. Six months after completing a Chapter 11 restructuring, the company is rolling out a revamped app and digital platform, a reimagined digital coaching experience, and a new brand identity. It’s even bringing back its old, two-word name, Weight Watchers. (The company had changed its name to WW in 2018 and later styled itself WeightWatchers.) Weight Watchers’ pitch: Any telehealth company can get you a GLP-1 prescription—including Weight Watchers itself—but Weight Watchers has unique programs to keep you healthy and on track. Those offerings include coaching, fitness classes, and a menopause…