COVID changes prompt dating apps to adapt

Aug 11, 2021
As the number of new users has flattened, dating app companies are creating game-like scenarios and events to keep people engaged while they look for potential partners.
The dating application Bumble. Dating apps have had to adapt to COVID changes.
ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images

The microwedding is here to stay, this event planner says

Aug 10, 2021
When business came to a halt for Gretchen Culver in Minneapolis, she launched a new business focusing on weddings with 30 or fewer guests.
Wedding planning is booming as analysts forecast the highest number of weddings in over a decade for 2022, according to market research firm The Wedding Report.
Photo courtesy Amanda Nippoldt Photography

Small business optimism shrinks as labor shortage, price hikes continue

Aug 10, 2021
Owners expect lower sales and worse business conditions in the coming months, reflected in the NFIB’s declining optimism index.
Though the economy is rebounding from the COVID-19 downdraft, small-business owners expect near-term business conditions to worsen.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Tenants in Los Angeles anxiously await rent relief as the city struggles to get funds out

Aug 10, 2021
In hard-hit L.A., only about 15% of the city’s current rent relief funding has reached households in need.
Los Angeles demonstrators protest evictions and advocate rent cancellation during the pandemic in August 2020.
Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Canada reopens its borders to the U.S., a rich tourism market

Aug 10, 2021
What does it mean that Canada's border is back open while the U.S. stays closed, at least for now?
The U.S.-Canada border Windsor Tunnel Port of Entry as shown on August 9, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan. Canada has opened its border to vaccinated U.S. tourists this week, though the U.S. has yet to return the favor.
Matthew Hatcher via Getty Images

Pandemic highlights poor conditions for some of Canada's farmworkers

Aug 10, 2021
The country is starting to beef up inspections and is looking at a process to set standards for housing farmworkers who are in the country on temporary visas.
The pandemic has highlighted the poor living and working conditions some temporary farmworkers in Canada experience.
Spencer Plat via Getty Images

Commercial real estate firms, co-working companies join forces

Aug 9, 2021
Commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield partners with WeWork, hoping to absorb some of that vacant office space.
Cushman & Wakefield's $150 million partnership with WeWork is the latest in a series of deals between commercial real estate firms and shared workspace companies.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Facing staff shortages, schools offer thousands in bonuses and retention incentives

Aug 9, 2021
With school starting up again soon in many places, school districts across the country are still scrambling to fill positions, an effort complicated by the delta variant.
A Stamford, Connecticut, educator teaches second grade in September 2020. Some schools are offering incentives to fill staff shortages.
John Moore via Getty Images

Who's in, who's out: What the labor participation rate tells us about the job market

Aug 6, 2021
The pandemic forced some Americans out of the workforce to care for family. Risk posed by the delta variant may keep them from returning.
A job fair in June. Data in the strong July jobs report shows that the labor force participation rate remains in a narrow range.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Biden administration ponders easing travel restrictions

Aug 6, 2021
The U.S is still closed to many international travelers. Reuters reports that the Biden administration wants to change that — but only if visitors are vaccinated.
A traveler arrives at London's Heathrow Airport in August 2021. The U.S. may soon be lifting restrictions for vaccinated international travelers.
Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images