Employment, Skills and Human Capital
My first Apple laptop felt like a piece of magic made just for me – almost a part of myself. The rounded corners, the lively shading, the delightful animations. I had been using Windows my whole life, starting on my family’s IBM 386, and I never thought using a computer could be so fun. Dry conditions and impending drought mean millions of people in the UK are now, or will soon be, under a hosepipe ban. There is a “temporary use ban” in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with Kent and Sussex to follow. It’s virtually impossible for water suppliers to enforce this ban themselves, so some are reportedly urging customers to report if they spot neighbours flouting the bans. Decarbonizing heavy industry will require collaboration on an unprecedented scale between companies that have historically been in fierce competition with one another. We are all pretty fed up with COVID, and perhaps keen for a summer of holidays, social outings and family get togethers. But while the threat posed by COVID has certainly decreased the virus can still be dangerous, especially for older people. Coastal communities around the world are fighting one of the most recognizable symptoms of climate change; seawater rise. In an attempt to combat flooding, cities from Sydney to San Francisco erected seawalls in a bid to prevent rising waters from overrunning infrastructure. Gail Evans joined Eastman Kodak as a janitor in the 1980s. By the time she left the commercial print company decades later, Evans had climbed from custodial work to production assembly to software engineer — eventually serving as its chief technology officer. Climate change can exacerbate a full 58% of the infectious diseases that humans come in contact with worldwide, from common waterborne viruses to deadly diseases like plague, our new research shows. “This year’s food crisis is about lack of access. Next year’s could be about lack of food.” Workforces have been shaped throughout human history by four key forces: specialization, scarcity, rivalry and humanity. A fifth of workers say they are extremely or very likely to quit their jobs in 2022, according to a global PwC survey. This trend is being driven by 5 key factors – the so-called ‘resignation equation’. An intergenerational crisis is underway. Once-in-a-lifetime catastrophes like COVID-19 and fears of a global recession continue to disproportionately affect the careers and economic stability of young people. Mosibudi Makgato and her sister Rosemary Padi have turned the taste of their South African childhood into a thriving business. Through their home-crafted ginger beer, sold under the Yamama Gemmer brand (which translates to “mother’s ginger beer”), these two young entrepreneurs have crafted a product that balances traditional flavor with modern convenience. The Bank of England will likely have to raise interest rates further to tackle inflation, Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden told Reuters. There are 1.12 billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 on earth, about 16% of the global population. By 2030, this figure is expected to grow to nearly 1.3 billion. Sustainability seems to be on the lips of every executive today. But for all the rhetoric, the results are somewhat disappointing. This is largely because companies have difficulty operationalising and measuring what sustainability means in practice. Even when metrics are defined and data is collected, leadership teams often struggle to use this information to inform strategy. Decision-making without data is akin to going on a hike up a mountain without a map to show you where you are going or how far you have gone. This leaves companies vulnerable in the face of increasing societal demands to become net positive or gender equal. If you listen to the current global discourse about urban development, you almost certainly would have come across the idea of building 15-minute cities. It seems like everyone, from government officials and public policy wonks to architects and city developers, is talking about redesigning or building from scratch urban settlements where residents can get to wherever they need to be in a quarter of an hour. How can we avoid being fooled by fake news? Our social networks are bombarded by information and it is almost impossible to discern what is real and what is unreliable information. By 2030, premature mortality from lung cancer is estimated to increase by 30%. Simultaneously, countries have the formidable challenge of reducing premature mortality from non-communicable disease (NCD) by one-third through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3.4). Over half of all known infectious diseases that threaten humans have been worsened by climate change, according to an alarming new study. Sometimes it seems as if changing the world has become part of the job description for the world’s top athletes. It’s been called the Great Resignation, the Great Attrition and the Big Quit. It began at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and, according to latest findings, is showing no sign of stopping. When it comes to tropical forests and climate change, two things are clear: we must protect our forests, and we must do it at scale. Healthcare systems have become increasingly digitised since the late 1960s, but in the last decade progress has accelerated, expanded in scope and been given a huge boost by the pandemic. From its beginnings in the early development of structured medical records through to the critical role telehealth played in continuing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital technologies have allowed policymakers, caregivers and patients the ability to make informed decisions to better manage healthcare delivery. Co-investing as a strategy has been on the rise for years. “The passport you hold determines your fate and dramatically impacts the options you have,” says Dr Christian Kaelin, chairman of Henley and Partners and inventor of the passport index concept, earlier this year. Show Agenda posts
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What is ‘living architecture’ and how can it transform the digital future?
Friday 12th of August 2022
Drought: People in the UK are being asked to report their neighbours if they use too much water
Friday 12th of August 2022
What are the key accelerators of industrial decarbonization?
Friday 12th of August 2022
How can we live a normal life while still protecting the vulnerable from COVID-19?
Friday 12th of August 2022
‘Living seawalls’ prove eco-engineering’s sea legs are strong
Friday 12th of August 2022
Want a bigger salary? Lower-paid workers are better off quitting than seeking promotion
Friday 12th of August 2022
Climate change can worsen 58% of human infectious diseases. This is why
Friday 12th of August 2022
The supply chain is dead: Why we must build a ‘living supply chain’ for food
Friday 12th of August 2022
The 4 forces workplaces can’t ignore
Friday 12th of August 2022
The ‘resignation equation’ driving employees to quit: 5 economic stories to read this week
Friday 12th of August 2022
7 tips from young leaders on achieving intergenerational justice
Friday 12th of August 2022
Building resilience and youth entrepreneurship in Africa
Friday 12th of August 2022
What you need to know about the global economy this week
Thursday 11th of August 2022
How to give the world’s youth a voice in shaping global challenges
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Why deep metrics and a strong learning culture are needed to drive effective ESG performance
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Vertical Urban Mobility: Why the future of urban development lies far above the ground
Thursday 11th of August 2022
How to spot fake news on your social networks
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Why we must act now to shape a lung cancer revolution
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Climate change is making infectious diseases worse, according to a ‘truly scary’ study
Thursday 11th of August 2022
From Carson Pickett to Colin Kaepernick, these activist athletes are making a change
Thursday 11th of August 2022
This country has the highest number of people planning to quit their jobs
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Protect, manage, restore: the formula for ending deforestation
Thursday 11th of August 2022
How can countries achieve digital maturity in healthcare?
Thursday 11th of August 2022
3 tips from trillion-dollar investors on sealing the co-investment deal
Thursday 11th of August 2022
These are the world’s best passports to own in 2022
Thursday 11th of August 2022
Gender Parity
Sometimes it seems as if changing the world has become part of the job description for the world’s top athletes. Women in the United States are more skeptical than men about some uses of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the possible widespread use of driverless passenger vehicles, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data collected in November 2021. It will take 115 years to close the gender gap in the Middle East and North Africa according to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Women health and care workers earn almost a quarter less on average than their male colleagues, a new report finds. The digital divide hurts women the most. Women disproportionately find themselves unable to access modern innovations that can improve their lives — among them digital education. The World Economic Forum publishes a range of podcasts, and this episode of Radio Davos gives you a flavour of what to expect from: Closing gender gaps can help set countries on a sustainable path toward more diversified economies, higher levels of productivity, and better prospects for the next generation. Yet gender inequality remains a global problem, especially in low-income countries, where women and girls lag behind men and boys in access to healthcare, education, jobs, entrepreneurship, and access to finance and assets while bearing disproportionate responsibility for unpaid work and care. Gender gaps in labor market participation, entrepreneurship, and land ownership lead to significantly lower productivity, and in turn, lower economic growth. England’s women have won the European football championship, bringing a major international trophy home for the first time since the men’s team won the World Cup in 1966, more than a lifetime ago for many of the fans who crowded into Wembley Stadium for the match. They beat Germany, English football’s bitterest rival by two goals to one, in a tense and hard-fought match that was not decided until the second period of extra time. A programme run by software companies Microsoft and SAP in India is enabling women graduates to gain practical industry skills in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and web design and digital marketing. Despite the progress made toward gender equality, men and women still face different labour market conditions at all levels of employment, not least at top management positions. Even female managers successful at breaking the glass ceiling are rewarded less than their male peers. The economics literature has uncovered ample evidence of gender bias. Geiler and Renneboog (2015) find that female top managers in listed UK firms earn some 23% less than their male counterparts, while Bell (2005) documents a bias between 8% and 25% for female executives in US-listed firms, after controlling for differences in company size, occupational title, and industry. Bertrand and Hallock (2001) reveal a 45% gap in US firms, reduced to about 5% after accounting for observable differences, where gender segregation by firm size plays a crucial role. There are currently just 30 female presidents and prime ministers worldwide. Moldova and Barbados are the only two countries where women occupy both the positions of president and prime minister, while Bangladesh is the only nation where a woman has led for more years than a man over the last half century. Financial inclusion is so important that it features in 8 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Edelman has been following brand trust for the past six years. Our most important finding is the emergence of belief-driven buying, with nearly two-thirds of consumers today buying or advocating for brands based on their values. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: The New Cascade of Influence released today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity finds a further trend to brand democracy in the form of gravitational force exerted by Gen Z consumers. Since the pandemic began, headlines worldwide have depicted its disproportionate impact on women. It pushed more women out of jobs, excluded them from quality healthcare and education, pushed them to perform more childcare, and intensified gender inequalities, among others. Then came the multiple shocks in the global economy. Women were among the hardest hit during the pandemic. Many were forced out of the workforce and overall they lost more jobs than men did. Gender-neutral internet searches yield results that nonetheless produce male-dominated output, according to a new study. How would you feel if your co-workers knew exactly how much you earned? Diversity is not only about being inclusive in terms of gender equality. But the inability of companies and organizations to incorporate the largest minority group, women, indicates that they are not being inclusive to other minority groups. LGBTQ+ visibility has become more common in the media and across the private and public sectors in the United States in recent years. To keep up, businesses are becoming more adept at adopting inclusive-language practices and undertaking other allyship efforts to attract a more diverse workforce. Vicki Hollub is the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, running the energy company at a critical time – during the disruption caused by the Ukraine conflict and the ongoing push for the energy transition. Tina Opie was wary of Beth Livingston when they first met more than a decade ago. Men and women often buy similar day-to-day products. But research shows that consumer products targeted and advertised to women are sometimes more expensive than comparable products marketed to men. This disparity is referred to as a so-called pink tax. The World Economic Forum has released its latest Global Gender Gap Report. The 2022 edition found that, at the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach gender parity. The Forum’s Meet the Leader podcast interviews leaders from across business and wider society uncovering nuggets on leadership and life. The current recession, unlike past economic slumps that have tended to be worse for men, is disproportionately bad for women. Show Agenda posts
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From Carson Pickett to Colin Kaepernick, these activist athletes are making a change
Thursday 11th of August 2022
How does gender impact opinions about artificial intelligence?
Wednesday 10th of August 2022
How women’s empowerment can drive competitiveness in the Middle East
Friday 5th of August 2022
Health and social care’s gender pay problem
Thursday 4th of August 2022
To educate and empower women, we must close the digital divide
Thursday 4th of August 2022
Space, cyberspace and climate change: the best of Radio Davos over the last year
Thursday 4th of August 2022
It’s time to close the gender gaps in taxation
Tuesday 2nd of August 2022
England win Euro 2022: How women’s football beat the sceptics to breathe new life into the game
Tuesday 2nd of August 2022
This Indian project is helping women into tech
Friday 29th of July 2022
The one thing we can’t ignore to close the gender gap at work
Friday 29th of July 2022
3 reasons why having female political leaders matters
Friday 29th of July 2022
4 things to know about financial inclusion around the world right now
Thursday 28th of July 2022
Which generation has the most trust in brands?
Tuesday 26th of July 2022
4 industry leaders on how we can recover momentum towards closing the gender gap
Friday 22nd of July 2022
3 ways online learning can narrow the higher education and workforce gender gap
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
Search engines have a gender bias problem
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
Here’s how pay transparency affects the workplace
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
How Japan can embrace gender equality and nurture a more inclusive society
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
Active allyship: How can you support LGBTQ+ employees?
Monday 18th of July 2022
Occidental’s Vicki Hollub – the woman driving one of America’s top oil companies – on Meet the Leader
Friday 15th of July 2022
3 action steps to create gender and racial equity at work
Friday 15th of July 2022
What is the ‘pink tax’ and how does it hinder women?
Thursday 14th of July 2022
The global gender gap in 5 charts
Thursday 14th of July 2022
6 female leaders and the lessons they’ve learned
Thursday 14th of July 2022
Closing the gender gap for women could help economies out of crisis. Here’s how
Wednesday 13th of July 2022
