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May 2018 Summary of Select Trends
Click on the source in (parenthesis) to visit the full article Economics The ‘gig economy’ is here. It’s a very broad term that describes both the increasing tendency of employers to hire independent contractors and short-term workers rather than add new full-time employees – and their accompanying taxes and benefits – to their workforce. 1099 filings have increased by 22 percent since 2000. It will bring massive change, massive opportunity, and massive disruption to the economy, and will deeply impact how local governments and schools adapt to this growing population of workers. (InDepthNH) Workplace One of the most disrupted industries is education, with more third parties offering courses, credentials and certifications than ever before. Pew Research reports that self-directed learning is driving the need for new credentialing systems. Younger generations are starting to resist the traditional degree due to the ever increasing cost of tuition. (Forbes) Community Just one year after Fayetteville, NC launched a public data portal for the public to track key performance indicators (KPIs) for various government departments, the city has been named Most Innovative City in the US. In open forums for city planning, results of the TRACStat portal are streamed live for government officials to present, as well as for attendees to view and ask questions. The program has allowed for more transparency in setting and tracking goals for the city and its residents alike. (Governing) Community Northwestern estimates it would cost Chicago $17 million a year in fewer citations issued for running a red light if yellow light times are increased. This is just one alternative to traffic cameras. Turning off traffic cameras led to a 30 percent spike in fatal accidents. So, it seems to pay in both funding and saved lives to keep traffic cameras in use. (Governing) Demographics School shootings are not going away in this country, and teens fear one happening at their school more than ever. Nearly 6 in 10 US teens worry a shooting could happen at their school, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of teens ages 13 to 17. Nonwhite teens reported a higher level of concern with two-thirds expressing school shooting fears collectively, including over 7 in 10 Hispanic teens. Lower income parents are the most worried with over 8 in 10 parents expressing concern with an income less than $30,000. (Pew) Retirement In a survey of retirement savers, not making ‘enough money to save for retirement’ was cited the top reason for low retirement savings by all age groups. Although this year’s results are more promising than last, still 4 out of 10 Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. (Market Watch) Demographics The landscape of the American family is changing, and it looks very different from the families 50 years ago. And so are the country’s views of unmarried parenting. One-quarter of children today live with unmarried parents – up from only 7 percent in 1968. But nearly half of adults agreed single parents could raise children as well as co-habiting parents – up from only one-third of adults in 1994. The Pew Study released this month details how demographics like race, income, political party affiliation, and gender relate to the American family of today. (Pew) Healthcare Employers are always looking for new ways to maximize their investment in employee healthcare by becoming more strategic and proactive. Experts are keeping tabs most on companies offering wellness programs, insurance plans designed based on value and/or outcomes. High Value Care (HVC) helps employers design plans that steer employees away from low-value services, treatments, and procedures and toward high-value treatments focused on preventive care. This strategy and others have shown cost savings for companies already. (Wellco Corp.) Technology A 5G cellular network is coming fast as nos. 3 and 4 mobile carriers T-Mobile and Sprint merge. “We intend to bring this same competitive disruption as we look to build the world’s best 5G network that will make the U.S. a hotbed for innovation and will redefine the way consumers live and work across the U.S., including in rural America." (Forbes) Technology Fake news is a big problem. Facebook is literally shrinking verified fake news stories in your News Feed. Using a third-party to check news sources for accuracy is now built into the Facebook algorithm as a result of enhanced scrutiny of the social network following the 2016 US Presidential Election. In addition to this feature and user-flagged reporting, Facebook intends to employ machine learning and AI to moderate content on its network. (TechCrunch) Workplace Symptoms like depression can result in about five missed work days and 11.5 days of reduced productivity every quarter. This costs the US 200 million work days each year. Employers are taking notice and starting to add mental health services to their employee benefit programs. This is just one of the ten workplace trends for 2018. (Forbes) |
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Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations affordably engage communities through high-quality surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups that use instant audience feedback technology. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help you thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help you by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations affordably engage communities through high-quality surveys, dynamic population segmentation, focus groups and work groups that use instant audience feedback technology. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help you thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help you by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].