Millennials don’t talk IRL, shoppers aren’t spending, and more trending news

The news professionals in the UK are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation in the comments below.

Forget the art of face-to-face conversation – millennials and Generation Z now communicate more digitally than in person. A study by technology company LivePerson found that 74.4% of these age groups in the UK interact with each other via their phones or online more than they do in the real world. Almost three-quarters of the youngsters surveyed said, if forced to choose between being able to make phone calls or send messages, they’d go for the nonverbal option.

A quarter of poorly paid UK workers are permanently stuck in low-wage jobs, a survey has revealed. The Social Mobility Commission found nearly half of those now on low pay have fluctuated in and out of lacklustre pay packets over the past 10 years, while just one in six low-wage workers managed to permanently escape into higher brackets. And women are far more likely to get stuck in the low pay trap, due to the lack of higher-paid flexible work that fits alongside childcare responsibilities.

Shoppers are tightening their belts more than expected, with retail sales dropping 0.8% during September in a steeper fall than the 0.1% economists predicted. New figures from the Office for National Statistics show retail growth in the third quarter of 2017 slowed to 1.5% year-on-year, which is the lowest level since early 2013. Shops that don’t sell food saw the biggest drop in transactions, but food stores also experienced a fall in sales volume and value. Inflation is being highlighted as the culprit behind the decline, with the surge in inflation since the EU referendum vote putting pressure on consumers’ pockets.

The Spanish government is suspending the autonomy of Catalonia after the deadline passed for the region’s president – Carles Puigdemont – to give up on his push for independence. Earlier in the month, 90% of participants in the region’s unofficial independence referendum voted in favour of Catalonia breaking away from Spain and becoming an independent country. Puigdemont hasn’t actually declared independence, stating he wants to first engage in talks with Spanish government, but the government has refused. Now that the government-imposed deadline for Puigdemont to declare independence has passed, Spain will start taking away some of the region's powers. It will do this by triggering Article 155 of the 1978 constitution, which allows the government to take control of any of the country’s autonomous regions should they break the law.

Get ready for green satsumas at Tesco. The retailer is stocking shelves with the less-than-orange oranges (which are perfectly ripe) in its drive to cut down on food wastage. Supermarkets typically have a grading system for fruit and veg that dictates the desired size and appearance of produce. Items that don’t tick all the boxes are rejected, resulting in millions of wasted pieces of fruit and veg each year. In an attempt to prevent this, supermarket chains have started selling batches of “ugly” produce, with Sainsbury’s encouraging the use of blemished bananas and Morrisons launching a "wonky" range.

Idea of the Day: “We’re living at a moment of profound and rapid change, where new tools and technologies are transforming how people live, work and communicate,” says Unruly CEO and author Sarah Wood. And there are ways to harness that: Be curious, generate ideas, and try new things. There are tremendous opportunities in the evolving business world.

“The barriers to pursuing your big idea and making something happen have never been lower. You have the capacity to experiment, and you need to use it.”

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