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When it comes to retail and wholesale trade employment, we were eventually heading back to the 1950s anyway. The virus is simply speeding things along. I doubt very much that we will stop at the 1950s. Fully automated warehouses are only a matter of time. At what point will the government stop reporting non-farm payrolls and instead start reporting non-farm, non-retail and non-wholesale trade employment?
This is deflationary. Robots will never demand higher wages to compensate them for all their hard work.
May 8, 2020
CNBC: Coronavirus fallout: Here are the 16 department stores Nordstrom is closing permanently
Nordstrom shares were up about 4% Friday afternoon, amid a broader market rally. The stock, valued at $2.8 billion, has fallen about 56% this year.
The world is running out of department stores. They just aren’t making any more of them! Buy now or be priced out forever!! There’s never been a better time to buy department stores!!!
This is definitely not investment advice. Sigh.
Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
3 comments:
Wait until the beancounters figure out how much work from home saves in office space costs for how small a productivity hit.
I’m sure they’ll think up something that can reduce the productivity hit.
Maybe food pellet rewards could be tied directly to the pecking on the keyboard? How Pavlovian!
And if the carrot doesn’t work, there’s always the stick.
March 27, 2020
Los Angeles Times: Bosses are panic-buying spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
We’re watching you, it told Axos Financial Inc. employees working from home. We’re capturing your keystrokes. We’re logging the websites you visit. Every 10 minutes or so, we’re taking a screen shot.
The last couple places I worked already use spy software on the computers of people IN the office, so it doesn't seem like a big change.
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