The training, which will be voluntary, expands upon Amazon's existing programs and initiatives. The idea is to help Amazon(AMZN) employees progress into more advanced jobs or even new positions outside of the company. It will be available to 100,000 workers by 2025, according to the report.
Under the plan, workers could use the training to transfer between positions they might not have been qualified for. For example, warehouse workers in fulfillment centers could be trained for technical roles in IT and nontechnical workers could be retrained as software engineers.
"While many of our employees want to build their careers here, for others it might be a stepping stone to different aspirations," said Beth Galetti, Amazon's head of HR, in a prepared statement. "We think it's important to invest in our employees, and to help them gain new skills and create more professional options for themselves."
Amazon's initiative comes as robots and artificial intelligence are advancing and more capable of replacing human jobs.
Machines are expected to displace about 20 million manufacturing jobs across the world over the next decade, according to a recent report from Oxford Economics, a global forecasting and quantitative analysis firm. That amounts to 8.5% of the global manufacturing workforce being displaced by robots
The company is also dealing growing internal displeasure among from some fulfillment workers.
Recently, the company's plan to spend $800 million to speed up deliveries for Prime members sparked tension between the company and the leader of a major workers' union. They said the new shipping initiative could be dangers for workers and are struggling to keep up with demand.
Amazon was also criticized last April after it revealed the median pay for its global workforce, including part-timers, was $28,446 in 2017. The company said in October that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour for US employees.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin speaks during the JFK Space Summit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, June 19, 2019.
Katherine Taylor | Reuters
Amazon.com on Thursday unveiled plans to retrain a third of its U.S. workforce — or 100,000 workers — by 2025 to help its employees move into more advanced jobs or find new careers.
The retail and tech giant intends to expand its existing training programs and introduce new ones. The training will be voluntary, and most of the programs are free.
Programs will help workers "access training to move into highly skilled technical and non- technical roles across the company's corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retail stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon," the company said in a statement.
Amazon's retraining programs will include:
Amazon Technical Academy, which equips non-technical employees with the skills to transition into software engineering careers;
Associate2Tech, which trains fulfillment center associates to move into technical roles;
Machine Learning University, which offers employees with tech backgrounds the opportunity to access machine learning skills;
Amazon Career Choice, a pre-paid tuition program designed to train fulfillment center associates in high-demand occupations of their choice;
Amazon Apprenticeship, a Department of Labor certified program that offers paid intensive classroom training and on-the-job apprenticeships with Amazon; and
AWS Training and Certification, which provide employees with courses to build practical AWS Cloud knowledge.
The planned program is among the biggest corporate retraining initiatives ever announced, at a cost of roughly $7,000 per worker, or $700 million, the Journal said.
Amazon shares are up 34% this year and are among the top performers in the 5-year run by the S&P 500 to 3,000 from 2,000.
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the wake of the U.S. housing meltdown of the late 2000s, JPMorgan Chase & Co hunted for new ways to expand its loan business beyond the troubled mortgage sector.
A dairy cow is seen grazing at the family farm, God Green Acres in Mayville, Wisconsin, U.S., June 24, 2019. Picture taken June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Darren Hauck
The nation’s largest bank found enticing new opportunities in the rural Midwest - lending to U.S. farmers who had plenty of income and collateral as prices for grain and farmland surged.
JPMorgan grew its farm-loan portfolio by 76 percent, to $1.1 billion, between 2008 and 2015, according to year-end figures, as other Wall Street players piled into the sector. Total U.S. farm debt is on track to rise to $427 billion this year, up from an inflation-adjusted $317 billion a decade earlier and approaching levels seen in the 1980s farm crisis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But now - after years of falling farm income and an intensifying U.S.-China trade war - JPMorgan and other Wall Street banks are heading for the exits, according to a Reuters analysis of the farm-loan holdings they reported to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
The agricultural loan portfolios of the nation’s top 30 banks fell by $3.9 billion, to $18.3 billion, between their peak in December 2015 and March 2019, the analysis showed. That’s a 17.5% decline.
Reuters identified the largest banks by their quarterly filings of loan performance metrics with the FDIC and grouped together banks owned by the same holding company. The banks were ranked by total assets in the first quarter of this year.
The retreat from agricultural lending by the nation’s biggest banks, which has not been previously reported, comes as shrinking cash flow is pushing some farmers to retire early and others to declare bankruptcy, according to farm economists, legal experts, and a review of hundreds of lawsuits filed in federal and state courts.
Sales of many U.S. farm products - including soybeans, the nation’s most valuable agricultural export - have fallen sharply since China and Mexico last year imposed tariffs in retaliation for U.S. duties on their goods. The trade-war losses further strained an agricultural economy already reeling from years over global oversupply and low commodity prices.
Chapter 12 federal court filings, a type of bankruptcy protection largely for small farmers, increased from 361 filings in 2014 to 498 in 2018, according to federal court records.
“My phone is ringing constantly. It’s all farmers,” said Minneapolis-St. Paul area bankruptcy attorney Barbara May. “Their banks are calling in the loans and cutting them off.”
Surveys show demand for farm credit continues to grow, particularly among Midwest grain and soybean producers, said regulators at the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Kansas City. U.S. farmers rely on loans to buy or refinance land and to pay for operational expenses such as equipment, seeds and pesticides.
Fewer loan options can threaten a farm’s survival, particularly in an era when farm incomes have been cut nearly in half since 2013.
Gordon Giese, a 66-year-old dairy and corn farmer in Mayville, Wisconsin, last year was forced to sell most of his cows, his farmhouse and about one-third of his land to clear his farm’s debt. Now, his wife works 16-hour shifts at a local nursing home to help pay bills.
Giese and two of his sons tried and failed to get a line of credit for the farm.
“If you have any signs of trouble, the banks don’t want to work with you,” said Giese, whose experience echoes dozens of other farmers interviewed by Reuters. “I don’t want to get out of farming, but we might be forced to.”
Michelle Bowman, a governor at the U.S. Federal Reserve, told an agricultural banking conference in March that the sharp decline in farm incomes was a “troubling echo” of the 1980s farm crisis, when falling crop and land prices, amid rising debt, lead to mass loan defaults and foreclosures.
JPMorgan Chase’s FDIC-insured units pared $245 million, or 22%, of their farm-loan holdings between the end of 2015 and March 31 of this year.
JPMorgan Chase did not dispute Reuters’ findings but said it has not “strategically reduced” its exposure to the farm sector. The bank said in a statement that it has a broader definition of agricultural lending than the FDIC. In addition to farmers, the bank includes processors, food companies and other related business.
FEDERAL BACKING FOR SMALLER BANKS
The decline in farm lending by the big banks has come despite ongoing growth in the farm-loan portfolios of the wider banking industry and in the government-sponsored Farm Credit System. But overall growth has slowed considerably, which banking experts called a sign that all lenders are growing more cautious about the sector.
The four-quarter growth rate for farm loans at all FDIC-insured banks, which supply about half of all farm credit, slowed from 6.4% in December 2015 to 3.9% in March 2019. Growth in holdings of comparable farm loans in the Farm Credit System has also slowed.
Many smaller, rural banks are more dependent on their farm lending portfolios than the national banks because they have few other options for lending in their communities. As farming towns have seen populations shrink, so have the number of businesses, said Curt Everson, president of the South Dakota Bankers Association.
“All you have are farmers and companies that work with, sell to or buy from farmers,” Everson said.
As the perils have grown, some smaller banks have turned to the federal government for protection, tapping a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that guarantees up to 95% of a loan as a way to help rural and community banks lend to higher-risk farmers.
Big Wall Street banks have steadily trimmed their farm portfolios since 2015 after boosting their lending in the sector in the wake of the financial crisis.
Capital One Financial Corp’s (COF.N) farm-loan holdings at FDIC-insured units fell 33% between the end of 2015 and March 2019. U.S. Bancorp’s (USB.N) shrunk by 25%.
Capital One Financial Corp did not respond to requests for comment. U.S. Bancorp declined to comment.
The agricultural loan holdings at BB&T Corp (BBT.N) have fallen 29% since peaking in the summer of 2016 at $1.2 billion. PNC Financial Services Group Inc (PNC.N) - which ran full-page ads in farm trade magazines promoting “access to credit” during the run-up – has cut its farm loans by 12% since 2015.
BB&T said in a statement that the decline in its agricultural lending portfolio “is largely due to aggressive terms and pricing” offered by competitors and its “conservative and disciplined” approach to risk.
PNC said its farm-loan growth is being held back by customers who are wary of taking new debt, along with increased competition from the Farm Credit System.
LOAN DEMAND STILL RISING
Lenders are avoiding mounting risks in a category that is not core to their business, said Curt Hudnutt, head of rural banking for Rabobank North America, a major farm lender and subsidiary of Dutch financial giant Rabobank Group.
In March of this year, FDIC-insured banks reported that 1.53% of their farm loans were at least 90 days past due or had stopped accruing interest because the lender has doubts it will be repaid. This so-called noncurrent rate had doubled from 0.74% at the end of 2015.
The noncurrent rates were far higher on the farm loans of some big Wall Street banks. Bank of America Corp’s noncurrent rate for farm loans at its FDIC-insured units has surged to 4.1% from 0.6% at the end of 2015. Meanwhile, the bank has cut the value of its farm-loan portfolio by about a quarter over the same period, from $3.32 billion to $2.47 billion, according to the most recent FDIC data.
Bank of America (BAC.N) declined to comment on the data or its lending decisions.
Gordon A. Giese and his son Paul Giese get ready to fill a manure tank at the family farm, God Green Acres in Mayville, Wisconsin, U.S., June 24, 2019. Picture taken June 24, 2019. REUTERS/Darren Hauck
For PNC Financial Services, the noncurrent rate was nearly 6% as of the end of March. It cut its farm-loan portfolio to $278.4 million, down from $317.3 million at the end of 2015.
David Oppedahl, senior business economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said the banking community is increasingly aware of how many farmers are struggling.
“They don’t want to be the ones caught holding bad loans,” he said.
Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago and Jason Lange in Washington; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts and Ayenat Mersie in New York, and Pete Schroeder in Washington; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Brian Thevenot
Norwegian Air Shuttle founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos will step down effective immediately, the company has announced.
The 72-years old Kjos took over as CEO of the company in 2002 and is responsible for the rapid expansion in previous years. He transformed the 1993-established Norwegian regional carrier into Europe’s third biggest low-cost airline with subsidiaries in Sweden, the UK, Ireland and Argentina.
At the same time, the struggling carrier has announced a Q2 net profit of US$9.2 million and says it will cut several year-round long-haul routes to summer seasonal routes.
Norwegian has accumulated a debt of over US$500 million during the past years and has seen two failed takeover bids from British Airways parent IAG (International Airlines Group).
The airline originally started only with short-haul flights in Norway before Kjos took the role as CEO and transformed Norwegian into a rapidly expanding airline. Long-haul flights were started in early 2013 with flights from Oslo and Stockholm to New York and Bangkok. Norwegian and its various subsidiaries operate a combined fleet of 162 aircraft, most of them being Boeing 737-800 and the currently grounded 737 MAX 8 as well as 36 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Previously, the airline announced that it will close several crew bases to improve its overall operation. The Argentinian subsidiary is also not doing as well as expected and has been given a few more months to improve load factors and revenue, otherwise it would be shut down. 90 ordered Airbus A320neo family aircraft (ordered by Norwegian’s leasing company Arctic Aviation Assets) have also been put up for sale.
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from southern Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been into aviation ever since. He is most interested in aircraft deliveries and passenger experience (PaxEx).
Yes, it's not your imagination: Avocados are more expensive. But no, Trump's tariffs aren't to blame.
But there are a few reasons the price of the popular fruit has spiked and is expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks.
For the first week of July, the wholesale prices of mid-sized avocados from Mexico were 129% higher than this time last year, said David Magaña, vice president and senior analyst at Rabobank based in Fresno, California.
“This is the highest price for this time of the year in at least a decade probably more,” Magaña said, noting the wholesale price was $84.25 for a 25-pound box compared to $37 the week of Independence Day 2018.
The increased wholesale price has been making its way to grocery stores.
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According to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture weekly retail price report, the average national price of a Haas avocado was $2.10 July 5, compared to $1.17 from the July 6, 2018 report.
Liz Garrison, a nurse in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, said she was shocked when the bag of six small avocados she normally buys at Trader Joe's was $6.50 this week. She's paid $2.50 for the same bag on past trips.
“I eat an avocado a day. That’s a lot to spend on something I’m eating so frequently,” Garrison said.
Why are prices up?
Magaña outlined three main reasons fueling the increase.
"One is expanding global demands including U.S. demand, it just continues to grow,” he said. “Avocados are not only consumed now for Super Bowl or during Cinco de Mayo celebrations but year-round consumption.”
California's avocado season is coming to an end and was the smallest crop in more than a decade, he said.
“These high prices have to do with seasonal production in Mexico,” Magaña said. “It’s normally the lowest at this time of the year.”
Mexico is the top supplier of fruits and vegetables to the U.S. with $13 billion imported from the country last year. Almost 90% of avocados come from Mexico.
“We’ve had the possibility of (Mexico) tariffs and the border closing and also a few weeks ago the probability of tariffs on all commodities coming from Mexico and we’ve observed a few price spikes,” Magaña said. “But now is only a supply and demand combination.”
How long will this last?
While prices may continue to increase over the next couple of weeks, the high prices may only be temporary.
“They should come down when the new Mexican production ramps up three, four weeks from now,” Magaña said.
Garrison hopes the high prices aren't long-term. After rationing her last avocado from last week's Trader Joe's haul, she ended up picking avocados at the nearby Cub Foods two for $4.
“If it’s something that’s short-lived like for a week or two, I wouldn’t mind spending the extra money,” she said.
Contributing: Paul Davidson
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko
Pedestrians walk past the People's Bank of China headquarters in Beijing, China, on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019.
Giulia Marchi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A widely expected interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve would give China more breathing room in shoring up its slowing economy, some analysts said.
A looser monetary policy environment would reduce pressure on China's central bank to ease monetary policy. Amid trade tensions with the U.S., China's economy has struggled to gain momentum.
Private surveys released last week by Caixin showed services activity fell in June to its lowest since February, and the manufacturing sector contracted, after three months of expansion.
Among several measures to support the economy over the last several months, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has made targeted attempts to lower financing costs to privately run enterprises, which account for the majority of the country's economic growth and employment.
"If the Fed does go ahead and cut rates, which I don't think is a given ... it simply means the PBoC has a little breathing room to see if the policies it has implemented have an impact on the real economy," Hannah Anderson, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC on Thursday by phone.
The central bank will also face less pressure to allow the yuan to depreciate, making it easier to maintain a goal of keeping the exchange rate stable, she said, while higher Treasury prices would boost the paper value of the PBoC's holdings, increasing confidence.
The U.S. dollar index fell about 0.4% overnight amid Powell's comments. The People's Bank of China set the mid-point of the yuan mildly stronger against the greenback on Thursday at 6.8677.
Some analysts expect if the Fed cuts rates, it will go so far as to prompt China's central bank to take similar action.
"If (make that when) the Fed cuts rates then it's quite likely the PBOC will follow suit," Leland Miller, chief executive officer of China Beige Book, said in an email. The firm publishes a quarterly review of the Chinese economy based on a survey of more than 3,300 Chinese firms.
"But a benchmark interest rate cut is almost purely a symbolic move that won't affect most corporates," Miller said. He noted that "only a small subset of (state-owned enterprises) pay the benchmark rate, and most of those firms don't have to repay their loans anyway."
A Reuters poll released on Wednesday showed economists anticipate the People's Bank of China will keep its benchmark rate unchanged this year, while reducing banks' reserve requirement ratio twice in the second half of this year.
While easing monetary policy would help support growth, Beijing has also turned to fiscal tools such as tax cuts to boost the economy in the latest round of stimulus.
However, Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, said he does not expect the Chinese central bank to follow the Fed in cutting the benchmark interest rate, since economic data doesn't indicate enough of a slowdown to warrant a major policy change right now.
"In the US, it's significant for the Fed to cut rate(s)," Hu said in a note Wednesday. "But in China, stimulating infra(structure) and property ... is what really matters."
Instead, he anticipates policymakers will wait until the fourth quarter to possibly cut the benchmark rate, or take some similar action. China's benchmark 1-year lending rate has stayed the same since 2015, Hu noted.
Reuters' poll showed China's economic growth is expected to slow to a 29-year low of 6.2% this year, amid uncertainty from the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S.
