Workers are starting to shelter in place — and other happenings in the world of work

Welcome back to The Work Shift, a weekly newsletter that keeps you informed about the economy, labor market and evolving world of work through data-driven insights. Click subscribe to be notified of future editions.

Catch up on the lat 7 days.

• Wholesale prices rose more than expected in November, according to the Labor Department. The more closely watched Consumer Price Index lands Tuesday morning.
• New jobless claims rose slightly last week, in a sign that the historically tight labor market could be loosening. The latest companies announcing layoffs include Morgan Stanley and Gamestop.?
• Gas prices dropped to their lowest in a year. The U.S. saw an average $3.33 per gallon last week, far below the peak of just over $5 in June and where prices were even a year ago.
• City living keeps getting more expensive. The average Manhattan rent topped $5,000 in November, according to new data from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. New leases signed fell by 39% from October, the steepest decline since the outset of the pandemic.?
• COVID isn’t as much of a concern this holiday season, an Axios/Ipsos poll found. The vast majority of Americans reported that coronavirus likely won’t disrupt their daily lives this winter, even though 84% think the virus will not go away during their lifetime.
• There’s been an exodus of working-aged men from the labor force, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The trend has been most pronounced among young, white non-college educated men. The findings suggest the widening gap between high and low-earners in the U.S. is fueling the decline.
• Remote work gave Americans 60 million hours of commuting back, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Workers are putting that time toward extra sleep or leisure activities.

Take a closer look at recent trending topics — and engage in meaningful conversations happening on LinkedIn.

Workers are starting to shelter in place

• The number of U.S. workers leaving their employers to start new jobs dropped 22% in November compared to the year before, according to LinkedIn’s latest State of the Labor Market. This suggests workers are starting to hunker down amid a murky economic outlook.
• “The slowdown is mainly due to the cooling economy which is making it more difficult for workers to job-hop or quit their jobs without another already lined up,” LinkedIn’s Head of Economics and Global Labor Markets Rand Ghayad, PhD wrote. “This is a 180 degree turn from last year,” when job switching was growing at 50% per year.
• So what does this mean for the wider labor market moving forward? “While slower economic growth and the slowdown in the number of new job openings lend some hope that the Federal Reserve could achieve a soft landing and bring down inflation without much of a spike in unemployment, plenty of headwinds and uncertainty continue to swirl,” Ghayad wrote. Wall Streeters, meanwhile, are growing more pessimistic and predicting that 2023 will be “bumpy.” The next signs that will speak to just how bumpy come Tuesday and Wednesday, in the form of new inflation data and the Fed’s decision on interest rates.

These workers have the strongest sense of loyalty

• As the remote work debate rages on, new data shows it could be worth it for employers to meet workers in the middle. About 70% of hybrid workers have a strong sense of company loyalty, according to a new Prudential survey. Just 64% of in-person employees and 59% of remote workers feel similarly.
• Hybrid workers ultimately get the best of both worlds: the flexibility to work from home along with the social interaction of the office — improving work-life balance and potentially productivity.
• Kristie Dykes, a client operations analyst, commented that she’s thankful for a more flexible work schedule because it minimizes the time she spends sitting in traffic and the money she spends on gas. “I have saved so much time and money, thereby, the company has too,” she said. It’s a mutually beneficial situation.

These are the top seasonal jobs

• Seasonal hiring is still in full swing as we head into the holidays. According to new LinkedIn data, no seasonal role has as many openings this year as “salesperson,” followed by drivers and retail jobs like cashiers and sales specialists.
• The skills most common for these roles include customer service, sales, problem solving, time management and teamwork. Brandon Busteed, chief partnership officer at Kaplan, said that some of these “soft skills” are actually right for any job and deserve a better name: universal skills.?
• Higher education professional DM Smith commented that “everyone should have the experience of working in retail,” not just because you learn skills like patience and customer service that are “vital to any other job you may have,” but because it could encourage compassion.

• Tuesday, December 13: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the monthly Consumer Price Index for November, which measures inflation through the price of goods and services.
• Wednesday, December 13: The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates.
• Wednesday, December 13: LinkedIn Senior Editor at Large George Anders will release his latest edition of Workforce Insights, digging into which workers are the most worried about budget cuts and layoffs.
• Thursday, December 15: The U.S. Census Bureau will release its monthly retail sales report for November. The report is an indicator of consumer spending and general economic activity.
• Thursday, December 15: The U.S. Department of Labor will release initial jobless claims for the previous week. The report, a proxy for layoffs, tracks the number of people filing for unemployment benefits.