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| Here are our top stories today: - U.S. office attendance rates are still half of what they were in 2019
- The Army plans to revamp its recruitment strategy after falling short of enlistment goals for years
- Pope Francis indicated his openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Your faithful IDB writer, Daniel
p/Dan-Smith | |
| 1 | | New data show that office attendance in big U.S. cities is still half of what it was in 2019. Occupancy rates have reached a record high since 2020 following return-to-office mandates, but they are still well short of what they were before the pandemic. More: - The average return-to-office rate across 10 U.S. cities matched the post-pandemic high of 50.4% of 2019 levels in mid-September.
- The office occupancy rate in Chicago reached 66% some days in September but fell below 30% on Fridays.
- New York City's return rate has ranged between 25% and 65%.
- Nationally, the average office vacancy rate was 19.2% in the last quarter, short of the record high of 19.3% in 1991.
- Major U.S. companies like Apple, Meta, and JPMorgan said they plan to enforce their return-to-office policies more strictly.
Zoom Out: - Fewer workers in offices hurt commercial landlords, nearby businesses, and municipalities alike.
- At the same time, millions of Americans are benefitting from the increased flexibility offered by work-from-home policies.
Q: Do you think office occupancy rates will ever reach pre-pandemic levels? Join the debate here. |     | |
| 2 | | The Labor Department reported 9.61 million job openings in the U.S. in August. 
What the numbers say: There were 700,000 additional job openings in August versus July. The Dow Jones had estimated there would be 8.8 million openings in August. Job openings had slowed in recent months after shooting up to more than 10 million in 2021 and 2022, when the unemployment rate neared record lows. Relevance: There were two job openings for every available worker for much of the post-pandemic economic recovery. The ratio fell to 1.5 in August after the number of workers classified as unemployed increased that month. The Federal Reserve looks at the Labor Department's job openings and hiring data to assess the labor market's strength. The Labor Department's non-farm payroll data for September is set to be published on Friday. A Dow Jones survey of economists estimated that there would be 170,000 new jobs created in September, down from 187,000 in August. | | | |
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| 3 | | The U.S. Army is set to revamp its recruitment strategy in an effort to attract more college-educated candidates. The Army, the largest service branch in the U.S. armed forces, has missed its annual goal for new enlistment contracts since 2014. More: - The Army only recruited 45,000 people in 2022, below its goal of 60,000 recruits.
- Notably, the Army will begin to rely on professional recruiters instead of soldiers assigned to work as recruiters.
- Some changes will be rolled out within the next 90 days but others will take years to implement, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said.
- The Army is expected to target young people who have spent time in college and people who are looking for jobs early in their professional careers.
- During his Congressional confirmation hearing, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said that recruiting is "the No. 1 challenge that we face."
- He said the Army must improve its messaging and marketing.
Zoom Out: - The Navy and Air Force said they fell short of their recruitment goals for the fiscal year ending on Saturday.
- The Marine Corps and the Space Force said they expected to meet their enlistment goals.
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| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Pope Francis indicated his openness to Catholic blessings for same-sex couples. He also said he would consider the possibility of allowing women to be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church. More: - The Vatican published a response from Pope Francis to a letter from five conservative Cardinals about controversial issues that will be discussed at the Synod of Bishops, a major Catholic Church meeting, later this month.
- Francis reaffirmed the Church's commitment to the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman but said that the Church shouldn't "lose pastoral charity" regarding same-sex partnerships.
- He said that priests can exercise discernment when same-sex couples request a blessing as long as they make the Church's official stance on marriage clear.
- Francis referred to a 1994 declaration in which Pope John Paul said the Church had no authority to ordain women as priests, but said that future rules should recognize women's rights to participate "in the leadership of the church."
Zoom Out: - Catholic bishops in Belgium published guidelines last month for granting blessings to same-sex unions, following a statement from German bishops earlier this year approving such blessings.
- There are nearly 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.
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| 5 | | On Monday, the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) authorized a foreign security mission to Haiti. A year ago, Haitian leaders requested help fighting criminal gangs that have taken over much of the Caribbean country. More: - Kenya offered to lead the mission, which will be funded with voluntary contributions from U.N. members.
- The U.S. and Ecuador drafted the resolution calling for a Multinational Security Support mission to use force against gangs in Haiti.
- China and Russia abstained from the vote, and the other 13 permanent and rotating members of the UNSC voted in favor of the resolution.
- The UNSC also approved the China-backed expansion of a UN arms embargo to include all gangs in Haiti, whereas before it only applied to specific individuals.
- Haitian officials have said that most of the guns used by local gangs come from the U.S.
Zoom Out: - In July 2021, a group of foreign mercenaries assassinated Haitian Prime Minister Jovenel Moïse.
- Prosecutors in Haiti, the U.S., and Jamaica have since accused former Haitian Senator John Joël Joseph of being behind the assassination plot.
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| 6 | | For the first time, U.S. regulators fined a company for leaving a junk satellite in space. Dish Network agreed to pay $150,000 for its failure to move an old satellite away from other functioning satellites. More: - The company admitted liability and agreed to a "compliance plan" with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which issued the fine.
- The FCC said the satellite posed a risk to other satellites orbiting the Earth at the same altitude.
- The satellite, which was launched in 2002 and decommissioned in 2022, lost the fuel needed to move to a graveyard orbit.
- FCC enforcement bureau chief Loyaan Egal said:
- "As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments."
Zoom Out: - The term "space junk" refers to pieces of non-operational human-made technology that are orbiting the Earth.
- More than half of the around 10,000 satellites that have been launched into space since 1957 are out of use.
- NASA estimates that more than 25,000 pieces of space junk measuring over 10cm are circling our planet.
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- Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to charges that he bought a gun without disclosing his drug use.
- Far-right Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) moved to oust House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his role as House Speaker, forcing a vote among GOP members on McCarthy's leadership.
- India told Canada that 41 of the 62 Canadian diplomats stationed in India must leave the country by October 10. A diplomatic rift between the countries continues to widen after Canada said that India may have orchestrated the murder of a Sikh separatist activist in Canada in June.
- Krispy Kreme is seeking to sell its majority stake in Insomnia Cookies for cash. The donut maker acquired the stake in a 2018 deal that valued Insomnia at less than $500M.
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Term of the Day Large language models: Large language models (LLMs) are a statistical method that helps predict the following outcome in a given sequence of input. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
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 | Writer | | Dr. Daniel Smith is an Inside writer with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @DJS12321 or email him at Daniel@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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