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Labour Cost
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level. "That is the unfortunate part...You would think with 7 per cent growth, we would be creating a lot of jobs. But if you look at our manufacturing growth, it is more capital intensive," he told PTI. Rajan was asked whether the Indian economy, which is growing at 7 per cent, is creating enough jobs. According to him, the industries that are more capital-intensive are growing faster, but labour-intensive industries are not growing. "It is not going well at the lower level. I think th
Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are co-headlining a campaign event Monday in the marquee battleground state of Pennsylvania as Harris balances presenting herself as a new way forward while remaining intensely loyal to Biden and the policies he has pushed. The pair will attend Pittsburgh's Labor Day parade and offer some remarks, the first time the two have shared a speaking slot on the political stage together since the surprising election shakeup that provided a fresh jolt of Democratic enthusiasm to the 2024 election. Harris' campaign has said Pennsylvania voters are newly energized since Harris moved to the top of the ticket six weeks ago, with tens of thousands of new volunteers signed up to canvass for her and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Harris' and Biden's appearance at the parade, one of the largest such gatherings in the country, is part of a battleground state blitz with just over two months until Election ...
General Motors says pretax earnings took a USD 1.1 billion hit this year from a six-week strike by autoworkers, but the company expects to absorb the costs of a new contract and is even raising its dividend. The Detroit automaker on Wednesday reinstated its full-year earnings forecast that was withdrawn after the United Auto Workers began targeting the factories of Detroit automakers with strikes on September 15. Those strikes continued at GM until Oct. 30. The company now predicts full-year net income of USD 9.1 billion to USD 9.7 billion, down from its previous outlook of USD 9.3 billion to USD 10.7 billion. But GM expects to generate more cash for the full year. It expects free cash flow of USD 10.5 billion to USD 11.5 billion, an increase from a previous forecast of USD 7 billion to USD 9 billion. To get there, GM expects to cut capital spending, including a slowdown in spending on electric vehicles and at Cruise, its troubled autonomous vehicle unit. California regulators revok
Two workers died and another suffered injuries after a pressure pipe exploded at a spare parts-manufacturing company in Noida, police officials said on Wednesday. The incident took place on Tuesday inside the factory of United Drilling Tools private limited located in Sector 81, under Phase 2 police station area, they said. "Three workers suffered injuries and were taken to a hospital where two were declared dead by doctors while the third is undergoing treatment," a police spokesperson said. Those killed in the explosion have been identified as Manoj Kumar Singh, 45, and Ishwar Dutt Sharma, 60, while the injured worker is Rajveer Singh, 45, the official said. The bodies were sent for postmortem and other legal proceedings were being carried out in the case, the police said.
Just years after labour activists persuaded a handful of states to raise their minimum wage to USD 15 per hour, workers initially thrilled with the pay bump are finding their hard-won gains erased by inflation. New York City resident Anthony Rivera, 20, who sorts packages at a United Parcel Service facility in Brooklyn, said he had to take a second job at a grocery store after his food costs soared. I was sitting at USD 15 an hour at UPS, and when it came to paying bills and buying groceries, it was starting to become not enough, he said. That led me to no other option than to pick up another job. New York, California and Massachusetts are among states where pro-labour forces are now pushing proposals that, if approved, would boost minimum wages to USD 20 or more in the coming years. Inflation has meant that something that cost USD 15 in 2012 when labour activists adopted the Fight for USD 15 slogan in a push for wage hikes would probably cost almost USD 20 today, according to th
Gradual increase in labour costs in China has prompted companies to look for alternative destinations. Can India reap the benefits of its demographic dividend? Will it score over its SE Asian rivals?