#Shift in Workforce Composition

[joyandella-123]

Does Automation Really Reduce Payroll?

Automation and robotics are touted as a panacea to the problem of qualified worker shortages. Can the resource outlays more than pay for themselves once the automated lines are up and running?

Automation can significantly reduce payroll needs in various industries, including metal fabricating. The impact of automation on payroll is primarily due to its ability to increase efficiency, productivity, and accuracy while reducing the need for manual labor in certain tasks. Here are some key points on how automation affects payroll:

Reduction in Manual Labor: Automation typically reduces the need for manual labor, especially for repetitive, mundane, or physically demanding tasks (the three D’s: dull, dirty, and dangerous). Machines and automated systems can perform these tasks more efficiently and for longer hours than human workers, leading to a reduced need for a large workforce.

Shift in Workforce Composition: While automation may reduce the number of low-skilled positions, there is often an increased demand for higher-skilled workers who can manage, maintain, and optimize automated systems. This shift can change the nature of payroll expenses, with a possible increase in salaries for these higher-skilled positions, but overall fewer employees.

Increased Productivity and Efficiency: Automated systems often work faster and more consistently than humans, increasing overall productivity. This means that the same amount of work (or more) can be done with fewer employees, leading to a potential decrease in payroll costs.

Reduction in Errors and Rework: Automation can also reduce costs associated with human errors, rework, and quality control. Automated systems can maintain high precision and consistency, leading to improved product quality and lower waste, which indirectly affects payroll needs by reducing the need for additional labor to correct mistakes.

Long-term Savings vs. Short-term Investment: While the initial investment in automation can be significant, the long-term savings on labor costs can be substantial. Over time, the reduction in payroll due to automation can offset the initial costs of purchasing and implementing automated systems.

Training and Development Needs: With automation, there's a need for ongoing training and development of staff to work effectively with new technologies. This aspect of payroll might increase as employees are upskilled to handle more advanced systems.

In summary, automation generally leads to a decrease in payroll needs related to manual labor, but it also requires a shift towards a more skilled workforce. The overall impact on payroll will depend on the extent of automation, the nature of the work, and the company's adaptation strategy in terms of workforce development and restructuring.

[mariacallous]

MYKOLAIV, UKRAINE—Kateryna Nahorna is getting ready to find trouble.

Part of an all-female team of dog handlers, the 22-year-old is training Ukraine’s technical survey dogs—Belgian Malinois that have learned to sniff out explosives.

The job is huge. Ukraine is now estimated to be the most heavily mined country on Earth. Deminers must survey every area that saw sustained fighting for unexploded mines, missiles, artillery shells, bombs, and a host of other ordnance—almost 25 percent of the country, according to government estimates.

The dogs can cover 1,500 square meters a day. In contrast, human deminers cover 10 square meters a day on average—by quickly narrowing down the areas that manual deminers will need to tackle, the dogs save valuable time.

“This job allows me to be a warrior for my country … but without having to kill anyone,” said Nahorna. “Our men protect us at war, and we do this to protect them at home.”

A highly practical reason drove the women’s recruitment. The specialized dog training was done in Cambodia, by the nonprofit Apopo, and military-aged men are currently not allowed to leave Ukraine.

War has shaken up gender dynamics in the Ukrainian economy, with women taking up jobs traditionally held by men, such as driving trucks or welding. Now, as mobilization ramps up once more, women are becoming increasingly important in roles that are critical for national security.

In Mykolaiv, in the industrial east, Nahorna and her dogs will soon take on one of the biggest targets of Russia’s military strategy when they start to demine the country’s energy infrastructure. Here, women have been stepping in to work in large numbers in steel mills, factories, and railways serving the front line.

It’s a big shift for Ukraine. Before the war, only 48 percent of women over age 15 took part in the workforce — one of the lowest rates in Europe. War has made collecting data on the gender composition of the workforce impossible, but today, 50,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army, compared to 30,000 before the war.

The catalyst came in 2017, years before the current war began. As conflict escalated with Russia in Crimea, the Ukrainian government overturned a Soviet-era law that had previously banned women from 450 occupations.

But obstacles still remain; for example, women are not allowed jobs the government deems too physically demanding. These barriers continue to be chipped away—most recently, women have been cleared to work in underground mines, something they were prevented from doing before.

Viktoriia Avramchuk never thought she would follow her father and husband into the coal mines for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company.

Her lifelong fear of elevators was a big factor—but there was also the fact that it was illegal for women to work underground.

Her previous job working as a nanny in a local kindergarten disappeared overnight when schools were forced to close at the beginning of the war. After a year of being unemployed, she found that she had few other options.

“I would never have taken the job if I could have afforded not to,” Avramchuk said from her home in Pokrovsk. “But I also wanted to do something to help secure victory, and this was needed.”

The demining work that Nahorna does is urgent in part because more than 55 percent of the country is farmed.

Often called “the breadbasket of Europe,” Ukraine is one of the world’s top exporters of grain. The U.K.-based Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which has been advising the Ukrainian government on demining technology, estimates that landmines have resulted in annual GDP losses of $11 billion.

“Farmers feel the pressure to plow, which is dangerous,” said Jon Cunliffe, the Ukraine country director of Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British nonprofit. “So we need to do as much surveying as possible to reduce the size of the possible contamination.”

The dogs can quickly clear an area of heavy vegetation, which greatly speeds up the process of releasing noncontaminated lands back to farmers. If the area is found to be unsafe, human deminers step in to clear the field manually.

“I’m not brave enough to be on the front line,” 29-year-old Iryna Manzevyta said as she slowly and diligently hovered a metal detector over a patch of farmland. “But I had to do something to help, and this seemed like a good alternative to make a difference.”

Groups like MAG are increasingly targeting women. With skilled male deminers regularly being picked up by military recruiters, recruiting women reduces the chances that expensive and time-consuming training will be invested in people who could be drafted to the front line at a moment’s notice. The demining work is expected to take decades, and women, unlike men, cannot be conscripted in Ukraine.

This urgency to recruit women is accelerating a gender shift already underway in the demining sector. Organizations like MAG have looked to recruit women as a way to empower them in local communities. Demining was once a heavily male-dominated sector, but women now make up 30 percent of workers in Vietnam and Colombia, around 40 percent in Cambodia, and more than 50 percent in Myanmar.

In Ukraine, the idea is to make demining an enterprise with “very little expat footprint,” and Cunliffe said that will only be possible by recruiting more women.

“We should not be here in 10 years. Not like in Iraq or South Sudan, where we have been for 30 years, or Vietnam, or Laos,” Cunliffe said. “It’s common sense that we bring in as many women as we can to do that. In five to 10 years, a lot of these women are going to end up being technical field managers, the jobs that are currently being done by old former British military guys, and it will change the face of demining worldwide because they can take those skills across the world.”

Manzevyta is one of the many women whose new job has turned her family dynamics on their head. She has handed over her previous life, running a small online beauty retail site, to her husband, who—though he gripes—stays at home while she is out demining.

“Life is completely different now,” she said, giggling. “I had to teach him how to use the washing machine, which settings to use, everything around the house because I’m mostly absent now.”

More seriously, Manzevyta said that the war has likely changed many women’s career trajectories.

“I can’t imagine people who have done work like this going back and working as florists once the war is over,” she laughed.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Tim Eagan, Cagle Cartoons

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 10, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 11, 2025

Last week’s dramatically dropping stock market prompted Fox News Channel personality Maria Bartiromo to ask Trump in an interview that aired yesterday if he was expecting a recession. Trump answered: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.”

Yesterday evening, on Air Force One, a reporter asked President Donald Trump if he is worried about a recession. “Who knows?” the president answered. “All I know is this: We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money. I’m telling you, you just watch. We’re going to have jobs. We’re going to have open factories. It’s going to be great.”

Today the stock market plunged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 prominent companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges fell by 890 points, more than 2%. The S&P 500, which tracks the stocks of 500 of the largest companies listed in the U.S., fell by 2.7%. The Nasdaq Composite, which tracks tech stocks, fell by 4%. Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla closed down more than 15%, dropping more than 45% this year. Tonight, as the Asian markets opened on the other side of the world, the slide continued.

According to MarketWatch, this is the worst start to a presidential term since 2009, when the country was in the subprime mortgage crisis. Trump did not inherit an economy mired in crisis, of course; he inherited what was, at the time, the strongest economy in the world. That booming economy is no more: Goldman is now predicting higher inflation and slower growth than it had previously forecast, while its forecast for Europe is now stronger than it had been.

Trump has always been a dodgy salesman more than anything, telling supporters what they want to hear. He insisted that the strong economy under former president Joe Biden was, in fact, a disaster that only he could fix. In October, Trump told attendees at a rally: “We will begin a new era of soaring incomes. Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before.”

That sales pitch got Trump away from the criminal cases against him and back into the White House. Now, though, he needs to make the sales pitch fit into a reality that it doesn’t match. Trump is “steering the country toward a downturn with his tariffs and cuts to spending and the federal workforce—for no logical reason,” Washington Post economic reporter Heather Long wrote on March 6. “Trump’s whipsaw actions have put businesses and consumers on edge,” she noted. If they stop spending at the same time that the government slashes jobs and spending, a downward spiral could lead to a recession. “Trump is inciting an economic storm,” Long wrote. “The big question is why he’s doing this.”

One answer might be that Trump’s top priority is the extension of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, at the same time that he has also promised to cut the deficit. Those two things are utterly at odds: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending the tax cuts will cost the country more than $4 trillion over the next ten years.

Tariffs appear to have been Trump’s workaround for that incompatibility. He claimed that tariffs would shift the burden of funding the U.S. government to foreign countries. When economists reiterated that tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers and would drive up prices and slow growth, he insisted they were wrong. Increasingly, tariffs seem to have become for him not just the solution to his economic dilemma, but also a symbol of American strength.

“[T]ariffs are not just about protecting American jobs,” Trump told Congress last week. “They are about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that.”

After watching Trump talk to Fox News Channel host Bret Baier in mid-February, Will Saletan of The Bulwark noted that Trump seemed truly to believe that tariffs would bring in “tremendous amounts of money.” For that, as well as his apparent conviction that Palestinians should evacuate Gaza so the U.S. could “take over” and develop the real estate there, and that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state, and so on, Saletan concluded “Donald Trump is Delusional.”

Another reason for Trump’s dogged determination to impose tariffs despite the pain they are inflicting on Americans might lie in James Fallows’s observation in Breaking the News after the president’s speech to Congress that Trump’s mental acuity is slipping. Fallows noted that Trump’s vocabulary has shrunk markedly since his first term and he appears to be falling back on “more primitive and predictable” phrases. Tonight the president appeared to be moving back in time, as well, advertising the availability of the first season of “the Emmy nominated ORIGINAL APPRENTICE STARRING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.”

The White House said today in a statement: “Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to President Trump’s America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs. President Trump delivered historic job, wage, and investment growth in his first term, and is set to do so again in his second term.”

As the administration’s economic policies are rocking the economy, the administration’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Syrian-born Palestinian activist who figured prominently in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University last April, seems designed to rock society. According to Democracy Now, Khalil is an Algerian citizen, but he holds a U.S. green card and is married to a U.S. citizen who is 8 months pregnant.

Shortly after he took office, Trump issued an executive order saying he would revoke the student visas of anyone he claimed sympathized with Hamas. On Saturday, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil. Khalil’s lawyer said that ICE agents claimed they were acting on the orders of the State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa, apparently unaware that Khalil, who graduated from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. When his wife showed officers documents proving that status, the lawyer said, an officer said they were revoking his green card instead. He is apparently being held in Louisiana.

The revocation of a green card is very rare. The Associated Press noted that the Department of Homeland Security can begin the process of deportation for lawful permanent residents who are connected to alleged criminal activity. But Khalil hasn’t been charged with a crime. Nik Popli of Time magazine notes that a green card holder can be deported for supporting terrorist groups, but in that case the government must have material evidence. A Homeland Security spokesperson did not offer any such evidence, saying simply that Khalil’s arrest was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

That is, the Trump administration has arrested and detained a legal resident for expressing an opinion that Trump officials don’t like, likely using Khalil to launch this extraordinary attack on the First Amendment because they don’t expect Americans to care deeply about his fate. Once the principle is established that the government can arrest and jail protesters, though, officials will use it to silence opposition broadly. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump posted just after noon. “We know there are more students at Columbia who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) posted: “This is illegal, and it endangers the rights of all Americans. In this country, people must be free to express their views—left or right, popular or unpopular—without being detained or punished by the government.” On this basic principle, Americans across the political spectrum appear to agree. Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter was one of those who stepped back from the idea of arrests and deportations of those expressing opinions. “There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport,” she posted, “but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?”

Today, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that Khalil “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” and ordered a hearing on Wednesday.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[misfitwashere]

March 10, 2025 

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 11

Last week’s dramatically dropping stock market prompted Fox News Channel personality Maria Bartiromo to ask Trump in an interview that aired yesterday if he was expecting a recession. Trump answered: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.”

Yesterday evening, on Air Force One, a reporter asked President Donald Trump if he is worried about a recession. “Who knows?” the president answered. “All I know is this: We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money. I’m telling you, you just watch. We’re going to have jobs. We’re going to have open factories. It’s going to be great.”

Today the stock market plunged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 prominent companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges fell by 890 points, more than 2%. The S&P 500, which tracks the stocks of 500 of the largest companies listed in the U.S., fell by 2.7%. The Nasdaq Composite, which tracks tech stocks, fell by 4%. Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla closed down more than 15%, dropping more than 45% this year. Tonight, as the Asian markets opened on the other side of the world, the slide continued.

According to MarketWatch, this is the worst start to a presidential term since 2009, when the country was in the subprime mortgage crisis. Trump did not inherit an economy mired in crisis, of course; he inherited what was, at the time, the strongest economy in the world. That booming economy is no more: Goldman is now predicting higher inflation and slower growth than it had previously forecast, while its forecast for Europe is now stronger than it had been.

Trump has always been a dodgy salesman more than anything, telling supporters what they want to hear. He insisted that the strong economy under former president Joe Biden was, in fact, a disaster that only he could fix. In October, Trump told attendees at a rally: “We will begin a new era of soaring incomes. Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before.”

That sales pitch got Trump away from the criminal cases against him and back into the White House. Now, though, he needs to make the sales pitch fit into a reality that it doesn’t match. Trump is “steering the country toward a downturn with his tariffs and cuts to spending and the federal workforce—for no logical reason,” Washington Post economic reporter Heather Long wrote on March 6. “Trump’s whipsaw actions have put businesses and consumers on edge,” she noted. If they stop spending at the same time that the government slashes jobs and spending, a downward spiral could lead to a recession. “Trump is inciting an economic storm,” Long wrote. “The big question is why he’s doing this.”

One answer might be that Trump’s top priority is the extension of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, at the same time that he has also promised to cut the deficit. Those two things are utterly at odds: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending the tax cuts will cost the country more than $4 trillion over the next ten years.

Tariffs appear to have been Trump’s workaround for that incompatibility. He claimed that tariffs would shift the burden of funding the U.S. government to foreign countries. When economists reiterated that tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers and would drive up prices and slow growth, he insisted they were wrong. Increasingly, tariffs seem to have become for him not just the solution to his economic dilemma, but also a symbol of American strength.

“[T]ariffs are not just about protecting American jobs,” Trump told Congress last week. “They are about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that.”

After watching Trump talk to Fox News Channel host Bret Baier in mid-February, Will Saletan of The Bulwark noted that Trump seemed truly to believe that tariffs would bring in “tremendous amounts of money.” For that, as well as his apparent conviction that Palestinians should evacuate Gaza so the U.S. could “take over” and develop the real estate there, and that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state, and so on, Saletan concluded “Donald Trump is Delusional.”

Another reason for Trump’s dogged determination to impose tariffs despite the pain they are inflicting on Americans might lie in James Fallows’s observation in Breaking the News after the president’s speech to Congress that Trump’s mental acuity is slipping. Fallows noted that Trump’s vocabulary has shrunk markedly since his first term and he appears to be falling back on “more primitive and predictable” phrases. Tonight the president appeared to be moving back in time, as well, advertising the availability of the first season of “the Emmy nominated ORIGINAL APPRENTICE STARRING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.”

The White House said today in a statement: “Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to President Trump’s America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs. President Trump delivered historic job, wage, and investment growth in his first term, and is set to do so again in his second term.”

As the administration’s economic policies are rocking the economy, the administration’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Syrian-born Palestinian activist who figured prominently in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University last April, seems designed to rock society. According to Democracy Now, Khalil is an Algerian citizen, but he holds a U.S. green card and is married to a U.S. citizen who is 8 months pregnant.

Shortly after he took office, Trump issued an executive order saying he would revoke the student visas of anyone he claimed sympathized with Hamas. On Saturday, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil. Khalil’s lawyer said that ICE agents claimed they were acting on the orders of the State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa, apparently unaware that Khalil, who graduated from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. When his wife showed officers documents proving that status, the lawyer said, an officer said they were revoking his green card instead. He is apparently being held in Louisiana.

The revocation of a green card is very rare. The Associated Press noted that the Department of Homeland Security can begin the process of deportation for lawful permanent residents who are connected to alleged criminal activity. But Khalil hasn’t been charged with a crime. Nik Popli of Time magazine notes that a green card holder can be deported for supporting terrorist groups, but in that case the government must have material evidence. A Homeland Security spokesperson did not offer any such evidence, saying simply that Khalil’s arrest was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

That is, the Trump administration has arrested and detained a legal resident for expressing an opinion that Trump officials don’t like, likely using Khalil to launch this extraordinary attack on the First Amendment because they don’t expect Americans to care deeply about his fate. Once the principle is established that the government can arrest and jail protesters, though, officials will use it to silence opposition broadly. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump posted just after noon. “We know there are more students at Columbia who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) posted: “This is illegal, and it endangers the rights of all Americans. In this country, people must be free to express their views—left or right, popular or unpopular—without being detained or punished by the government.” On this basic principle, Americans across the political spectrum appear to agree. Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter was one of those who stepped back from the idea of arrests and deportations of those expressing opinions. “There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport,” she posted, “but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?”

Today, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that Khalil “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” and ordered a hearing on Wednesday.

—

[darkmaga-returns]

1. The Wall Street Journal:

Trump administration officials ordered eight senior FBI employees to resign or be fired, and asked for a list of agents and other personnel who worked on investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, people familiar with the matter said, a dramatic escalation of President Trump’s plans to shake up U.S. law enforcement. On Friday, the Justice Department also fired roughly 30 prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who have worked on cases stemming from Capitol riot, according to people familiar with the move and a Justice Department memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The prosecutors had initially been hired for short-term roles as the U.S. attorney’s office staffed up for the wave of more than 1,500 cases that arose from the attack by Trump supporters. Trump appointees at the Justice Department also began assembling a list of FBI agents and analysts who worked on the Jan. 6 cases, some of the people said. Thousands of employees across the country were assigned to the sprawling investigation, which was one of the largest in U.S. history and involved personnel from every state. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove gave Federal Bureau of Investigation leadership until noon on Feb. 4 to identify personnel involved in the Jan. 6 investigations and provide details of their roles. Bove said in a memo he would then determine whether other discipline is necessary. Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll said in a note to employees that he would be on that list, as would acting Deputy Robert Kissane. “We are going to follow the law, follow FBI policy and do what’s in the best interest of the workforce and the American people—always,” Driscoll wrote. Across the FBI and on Capitol Hill, the preparation of the list stirred fear and rumors of more firings to come—potentially even a mass purge. (Source: wsj.com, italics mine. The big question is whether “the list” will include FBI informants)

2. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said he believes his company should consider giving away its AI models, a potentially seismic strategy shift in the same week China’s DeepSeek has upended the artificial-intelligence industry. DeepSeek’s AI models are open-source, meaning anyone can use them freely and alter the way they work by changing the underlying code. In an “ask-me-anything” session on Reddit Friday, a participant asked Altman if the ChatGPT maker would consider releasing some of the technology within its AI models and publish more research showing how its systems work. Altman said OpenAI employees were discussing the possibility. “(I) personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy,” Altman responded. He added, “not everyone at OpenAi shares this view, and it’s also not our current highest priority.” (Source: wsj.com)

3. Quanta Magazine:

In December 17, 1962, Life International published a logic puzzle consisting of 15 sentences describing five houses on a street. Each sentence was a clue, such as “The Englishman lives in the red house” or “Milk is drunk in the middle house.” Each house was a different color, with inhabitants of different nationalities, who owned different pets, and so on. The story’s headline asked: “Who Owns the Zebra?” Problems like this one have proved to be a measure of the abilities — limitations, actually — of today’s machine learning models. Also known as Einstein’s puzzle or riddle (likely an apocryphal attribution), the problem tests a certain kind of multistep reasoning. Nouha Dziri, a research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI, and her colleagues recently set transformer-based large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, to work on such tasks — and largely found them wanting. “They might not be able to reason beyond what they have seen during the training data for hard tasks,” Dziri said. ��Or at least they do an approximation, and that approximation can be wrong.”

[oliviiaagraceeeeee]

Exploring Growth Drivers in ASX Mining Stocks

Highlights

Sector structure and commodity focus within ASX Mining Stocks.

Examination of supply influences and processing innovations among ASX Mining Stocks.

Insight into operational and environmental initiatives across ASX Mining Stocks.

The Australian mining marketplace encompasses a diverse range of commodity producers listed on the local exchange. A sequence of developments in supply chain dynamics and resource discoveries has shifted attention toward key resource sectors. Major producers in gold, base metals, and battery minerals are represented among top performers, reflecting evolving demand from global markets. Resource diversification strategies have prompted emphasis on metals that support construction, manufacturing, and technological applications. Regulatory compliance and community engagement initiatives play a key role in operational continuity and social license to operate. The grouping under the label ASX Mining Stocks offers a window into companies that navigate regulatory requirements and market fluctuations to sustain operations.

Gold Extraction Segment

The gold extraction segment includes companies operating large scale mines across iconic regions. Operational capacities are oriented toward sustained output while leveraging enhancements in extraction techniques. Environmental management practices have been advanced through water recycling and land rehabilitation measures. Cost structures remain influenced by energy inputs, logistics pathways, and workforce composition. Exploration efforts frequently extend into underexplored belts to replenish reserve portfolios. Regional exploration programs are supported by geological risk assessments and collaborative research with academic institutions. Stakeholder evaluations of governance frameworks underpin assessment of established producers and emerging operators alike. Evaluations of ASX Mining Stocks within this segment highlight resilience in production.

Battery Mineral Producers

The battery mineral category features developers of lithium and nickel assets critical for rechargeable cell manufacturing in transportation and energy storage applications. Exploration activities have extended into underexplored basins to secure resource pipelines and support downstream processing. Partnerships with beneficiation facilities aim to streamline milling and refining workflows. Innovations in waste management and water usage optimization are advancing sustainability credentials across the segment. Market dynamics for rechargeable cell feedstocks are shaped by end user demand and evolving technological standards. Consumers of end products monitor output quality and supply integrity when tracking this commodity grouping. Evaluations of ASX Mining Stocks in this category reflect supply chain alignment.

Iron Ore Overview

Sizable iron ore producers maintain export volumes through integration of rail and port logistics to global steel markets. Scale advantages are evident in low unit cost achievements and vertically integrated operations that span extraction through shipment. Expansion programs focus on resource delineation while adhering to environmental and safety regulations. Integration of renewable energy sources at mining hubs is becoming more prevalent to reduce carbon emissions. Shifting demand from construction sectors influences shipment patterns and contract negotiations. Performance indicators for this category often center on throughput efficiency and operational resilience during seasonal cycles. Metrics for ASX Mining Stocks in this category reflect efficiency in export operations.

Metal Pricing Factors

Commodity pricing movements are shaped by global supply disruptions, adjustments in trade policy, and shifts in manufacturing output across core markets. Currency fluctuations also influence realized revenue figures for exporters. Price benchmarks emerge from contracts on major international exchanges and bilateral agreements. Supply chain bottlenecks and logistical constraints can generate short term volatility, prompting monitoring of port capacity and freight availability. Seasonal demand cycles and global economic shifts introduce complexity to forecast exercises within commodity trading contexts. Trends in pricing of ASX Mining Stocks are influenced by these factors.

Operational Highlights

Recent capital expenditure programs emphasize automation and digital monitoring of processing facilities, fostering improvements in throughput and downtime reduction. Workforce development schemes aim to enhance safety standards and technical competencies through structured training initiatives. Community engagement practices are evolving to align with stakeholder expectations on environmental and social performance. Digital platforms for real time data collection are enhancing visibility into operational metrics and decision protocols. Maintenance schedules are increasingly optimized through predictive analytics that monitor equipment health and anticipate servicing requirements. Updates to ASX Mining Stocks operational frameworks reinforce development goals.

To learn more about ASX Mining Stocks, explore detailed company profiles and operational updates via official exchange publications.

[sameennna]

Learning activity 3.5, Task 1 : Where do I live?

Mississauga, located in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), is more than just a suburb it is a thriving city in its own right, home to over 700,000 residents and a hub of multiculturalism, economic growth, and continuous transformation. Known for its cultural diversity, corporate centers, and rapidly changing skyline, Mississauga stands as a prime example of how Canadian urban centres are shaped by immigration and demographic shifts. In this blog post, I will explore the demographic profile of Mississauga using data collected in Learning Activity 3.1, alongside recent statistics and research. I’ll also reflect on how my community is evolving, what challenges it faces, and what steps are being taken to accommodate its unique population.

Population Distribution by Ethnicity, Sex, and Age

As of the 2021 Census by Statistics Canada, Mississauga has a total population of 717,961. One of the defining characteristics of the city is its ethnic and cultural diversity. With over 57% of residents identifying as visible minorities, Mississauga is one of the most multicultural cities in the country.

Here is a detailed ethnic composition of the city:

South Asian (e.g., Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan): 28.1%

Black (Caribbean, African): 8.8%

Chinese: 7.4%

Filipino: 4.5%

Arab: 4.1%

Latin American, Southeast Asian, West Asian, and others: A combined 10%

White (European descent): 35.2%

This demographic landscape is complemented by a fairly equal gender distribution, with females accounting for 50.9%of the population and males making up 49.1%.

In terms of age structure, the city is predominantly composed of working-age adults but also has a growing senior population. Here is the breakdown:

Children and youth (0–14 years): 17.4%

Working-age (15–64 years): 67.2%

Seniors (65+ years): 15.4%

Mississauga is a city where diversity exists not only in ethnicity, but also in age, cultural background, and socio-economic status.

Has Mississauga Changed Over Time?

Yes immensely. Mississauga has experienced a complete demographic evolution in the past fifty years. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mississauga was primarily rural and composed of predominantly white, European-descended residents. Since then, rapid urbanization, suburban expansion, and a wave of immigration, particularly after Canada’s 1971 Multiculturalism Policy, have transformed it into a bustling urban centre filled with high-rise condos, large plazas, diverse faith centers, and ethnic markets.

Between 1981 and 2021, the proportion of visible minorities in Mississauga grew from under 10% to over 57%. Immigration from countries such as India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nigeria, and China has been the primary driver of this change. Many immigrants are drawn to the city for its affordable housing (compared to downtown Toronto), proximity to Pearson International Airport, and access to jobs and transit.

Along with ethnic change has come generational change. As second- and third-generation Canadians are born and raised in Mississauga, cultural blending has become more common. Still, many families retain strong ties to their cultural heritage, making the city a living example of pluralism and coexistence.

What Are the Challenges of These Demographics?

Despite its vibrant diversity, Mississauga faces several challenges tied directly to its demographic structure. These include:

1. Language Barriers and Cultural Adjustment

Mississauga’s schools report a high number of students who speak a first language other than English. This creates challenges for teachers, healthcare workers, and government services, which must ensure access and inclusion for non-English speakers. Older immigrants often face linguistic isolation, particularly if they arrived late in life or come from non-English-speaking countries.

2. Employment Disparities

Highly skilled immigrants often face systemic barriers when trying to enter the workforce. Many have foreign credentials that are not recognized in Canada. As a result, newcomers may take lower-paying jobs despite having advanced degrees. This phenomenon, known as brain waste, results in underemployment and contributes to economic inequality.

3. Affordable Housing Crisis

Like many urban areas, Mississauga is struggling with housing affordability. The average home price has skyrocketed in recent years, pushing many families into rental housing. Newcomer families, often living in multigenerational homes, experience overcrowding and are sometimes unable to afford market-rate rents. According to Peel Region’s housing reports, over 30% of residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing, placing them at risk of homelessness (Region of Peel, 2022).

4. Ageing Population

While Mississauga has a younger demographic compared to some Canadian cities, its senior population is growing rapidly. This will place increasing pressure on healthcare infrastructure, accessible transportation, and long-term care services.

5. Cultural Tensions and Integration

In a city with such diversity, cultural misunderstandings can occasionally lead to tension. Differences in religious practice, dress, or gender roles can create discomfort or division, especially in public institutions like schools or workplaces if cultural competency is lacking.

Conclusion: A City of Challenges and Hope

Mississauga is more than just where I live it iis a city in motion. Its demographics reflect not only Canada’s immigration story but also the global nature of modern cities. While the city faces clear challenges housing affordability, underemployment, aging infrastructure it also demonstrates resilience through progressive policymaking, community engagement, and an inclusive vision of the future. Mississauga is a place where cultural mosaic isn’t just a metaphor it’s a lived experience.

City of Mississauga. (2021). Age-Friendly Mississauga: Action Plan 2021–2026. Retrieved from https://www.mississauga.ca

Region of Peel. (2022). Peel Poverty Reduction Strategy: 2022–2027. Retrieved from https://www.peelregion.ca

Statistics Canada. (2022). Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population: Mississauga. Retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E

Peel Newcomer Strategy Group. (2023). Community Initiatives. Retrieved from https://www.peelnewcomer.org

[conniephleb]

Open Your Career in Healthcare: Enroll in Top Phlebotomy Classes in Orange County, CA

Unlock Your⁣ Career in Healthcare: Enroll in ⁤Top Phlebotomy Classes in⁣ Orange County, CA

Are​ you⁣ looking to launch or⁣ advance ⁢your career in teh healthcare industry? Phlebotomy offers a rewarding possibility to work with patients‍ and play a⁣ critical role in medical diagnostics. In this complete⁢ guide, we will explore the benefits‌ of becoming a phlebotomist, outline what ⁢to expect when enrolling in phlebotomy ‍classes, and help ‌you find the best ‍programs in Orange⁤ County, CA.

The Role of a Phlebotomist

Phlebotomists are trained professionals responsible for drawing ‍blood samples from patients⁤ for various medical tests, donations, or research. Their role is vital in diagnosing diseases and‌ monitoring patient health.⁤ As the demand for healthcare services increases, ‍the need for qualified phlebotomists is growing, making this a stable career choice.

Benefits of Becoming a Phlebotomist

Short Training Period: most phlebotomy training programs last just a few months,allowing you to enter ​the workforce quickly.

Job Stability: With healthcare constantly evolving,job⁢ opportunities ​for phlebotomists are on ⁤the ⁤rise.

Hands-On Experience: Gain valuable patient care experience,‌ which‌ can open ‍doors to various healthcare positions.

Competitive Salary: Phlebotomists earn a competitive wage, with potential for ⁣growth through further education and ⁢specialization.

Flexible Work Hours: Many healthcare facilities⁢ offer shifts that work around‌ your schedule.

What to Expect in Phlebotomy Classes

Curriculum Overview

Phlebotomy training programs cover a⁤ variety of topics that equip you with ⁤the skills needed ‌in the field, including:

Blood collection techniques

Patient interaction and ​care

Understanding blood composition

Lab safety​ and infection control

Managing blood specimens

Hands-On Training

Most reputable programs provide hands-on⁤ training, enabling students‍ to practice‍ blood draws⁢ on ‌real or simulated patients. This practical ​experience is crucial for building‌ confidence and skill.

Certification and Licensing

After completing your​ training, you’ll need to take a certification exam ⁤to become a licensed phlebotomist. This‌ certification can enhance your job prospects‍ and is frequently enough required ‌by employers.

Finding Top Phlebotomy Classes in ​orange County, CA

When seeking phlebotomy ⁤classes, it’s​ essential to choose a ⁤reputable institution.‍ Here are ⁤some top options in ⁢Orange County:

Institution

Location

Program Duration

Certification Offered

Orange Coast College

Costa Mesa, CA

8 weeks

YES

Concorde ⁢Career College

Garden Grove, CA

4 months

YES

Northwest⁤ College

Santa Ana,​ CA

6 months

YES

American Career College

Orange, CA

10 weeks

YES

Practical ⁢Tips for‌ Aspiring Phlebotomists

Research Programs: Look for ‌accredited programs with positive reviews and job ⁣placement assistance.

Network: Engage with instructors and peers. Building connections can lead to job opportunities.

Stay Updated: Healthcare standards change ⁢frequently. Keep learning ⁢even after certification.

Practice Makes Perfect: The more you practice your skills,the more confident you’ll‍ become.

Real-Life Case Studies

To give you⁢ an idea of what a career in phlebotomy⁢ looks ‍like, we’ve gathered experiences from professionals in the field:

Jessica, ‍28: “I ⁤started my phlebotomy career straight out of⁤ school. The training was intense but vrey rewarding. I’ve been able to grow into a lab manager position ‍within five years.”

Mark, 32: “the flexibility of‍ phlebotomy fits perfectly ⁣with my lifestyle. I love⁤ the patient⁢ interactions​ and being part‌ of‍ a medical team.”

Conclusion

If you are ready⁤ to ‌embark on a fulfilling​ career in healthcare,enrolling in phlebotomy classes in⁢ Orange⁢ County,CA,is an excellent‍ first ⁢step. With⁢ the right training,certification,and a passion for helping others,you can ⁣unlock endless opportunities in this critical field. Explore the programs listed above, ‍and take charge of your future today!

https://phlebotomytrainingcenter.net/open-your-career-in-healthcare-enroll-in-top-phlebotomy-classes-in-orange-county-ca/

[purplecowboyblaze]

Ferro Silicon Magnesium Manufacturers in India: Powering the Foundry and Steel Industry

In the heart of modern metallurgy and casting industries lies a crucial alloy—Ferro Silicon Magnesium (FeSiMg). Widely used in the production of ductile iron (SG iron) and steel, this compound plays an essential role in enhancing mechanical properties, improving microstructures, and ensuring quality casting processes. As the demand for high-performance materials grows globally, the focus is shifting towards reliable and high-quality Ferro Silicon Magnesium manufacturers in India.

India, known for its strong metallurgical industry and growing global influence, is home to several top-tier manufacturers producing high-grade FeSiMg alloys. These companies supply both domestic and international markets, maintaining stringent quality standards and technological advancements.

In this blog, we’ll explore what makes Ferro Silicon Magnesium vital to the foundry sector, why India is a key manufacturing hub, and how to choose the right supplier for your industrial needs.

What is Ferro Silicon Magnesium?

Ferro Silicon Magnesium is a master alloy of iron, silicon, and magnesium, often containing trace elements like calcium and rare earth metals. It is mainly used in the nodularization process of cast iron to produce ductile iron, also known as SG (Spheroidal Graphite) iron.

When added during the molten metal stage, the magnesium content helps in converting flake graphite into spheroidal (nodular) shapes, resulting in improved strength, elasticity, and fatigue resistance in the final cast.

Key Applications of Ferro Silicon Magnesium

FeSiMg is indispensable in industries such as:

Automotive Casting: For producing engine blocks, gears, crankshafts, and suspension parts.

Heavy Machinery: Used in components requiring high tensile strength and wear resistance.

Steel Making: Functions as a deoxidizer and alloying agent to improve steel’s overall quality.

Pipe and Fitting Manufacturing: Especially in ductile iron water pipes and valves.

Why India is a Leading Ferro Silicon Magnesium Producer

India has rapidly become one of the largest producers and exporters of Ferro Silicon Magnesium alloys due to a combination of:

1. Raw Material Availability

With access to abundant reserves of iron ore and silicon materials, Indian manufacturers can produce cost-effective and high-quality alloys.

2. Advanced Manufacturing Facilities

Many Indian plants are equipped with state-of-the-art induction furnaces, automatic feeders, and quality control labs that ensure consistent composition and performance of alloys.

3. Skilled Workforce

India boasts a technically sound workforce with metallurgical expertise, making it easier to meet international production standards.

4. Export Capability

With robust logistics and port facilities, Indian manufacturers efficiently serve global markets in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Leading Ferro Silicon Magnesium Manufacturers in India

Several Indian companies have established themselves as reliable suppliers, known for quality and competitive pricing. While the specific names may vary, top manufacturers typically offer:

Various grades (FeSiMg 5��8%, 8–10%, 10–12%, etc.)

Custom compositions tailored to client needs

Prompt delivery and consistent batch quality

Technical support and lab-tested certifications

When choosing a supplier, it’s essential to verify certifications like ISO, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) compliance, and third-party test reports to ensure reliability.

How to Choose the Right Ferro Silicon Magnesium Manufacturer

When sourcing Ferro Silicon Magnesium in India, consider the following:

✅ Quality Assurance:

Ensure the supplier uses advanced quality testing methods, such as spectrometry and thermal analysis.

✅ Experience and Reputation:

A well-established manufacturer with industry experience is more likely to deliver consistent product quality.

✅ Packaging & Logistics:

Look for suppliers who offer safe packaging, especially in 25kg, 1-ton jumbo bags, and reliable export documentation.

✅ Technical Support:

Top manufacturers provide after-sales service, technical assistance, and application guidance.

✅ Customization:

If your foundry needs a specific chemical composition or size range, ensure the manufacturer offers customization capabilities.

The Growing Global Demand for Indian FeSiMg

As developing economies expand their infrastructure, the demand for ductile iron castings is on the rise. Indian manufacturers are well-positioned to cater to this demand by offering cost-effective, high-quality Ferro Silicon Magnesium alloys that comply with international standards.

Global foundries are now looking to India as a long-term strategic supplier due to competitive pricing, consistent quality, and dependable logistics.

Final Thoughts

The importance of Ferro Silicon Magnesium manufacturers in India cannot be overstated. With increasing global demand for ductile iron and high-strength castings, the role of quality FeSiMg producers is critical in shaping industrial growth.

Whether you are a small foundry, a large steel manufacturer, or an international buyer, sourcing from India offers you both quality and value. By choosing a reliable Indian manufacturer, you’re not just buying an alloy—you’re investing in consistent production, metallurgical excellence, and long-term business growth.

[restoreworks]

Professional Tuckpointing in Chicago: Preserving Brickwork Across the City

Why Tuckpointing Is Critical for Structural Longevity

Over time, exposure to moisture, pollution, and temperature shifts causes mortar joints in brick buildings to crack, crumble, or deteriorate completely. Without timely intervention, these issues can weaken the structure and allow water infiltration. This is why tuckpointing companies in chicago are so essential—they specialise in replacing failing mortar with fresh, weather-resistant compounds that not only improve structural stability but restore the visual integrity of brick exteriors.

How to Identify a Reputable Tuckpointing Company

Choosing the right tuckpointing company chicago involves more than just reviewing pricing. Experienced professionals understand how to assess the depth and extent of mortar deterioration, match existing mortar colour and composition, and carry out the process with minimal disruption. Whether working on a historical façade or a commercial warehouse, a qualified company should be able to protect both the structure and the aesthetic features of the building.

The Role of Skilled Tuckpointing Contractors in Restoration

With commercial and multi-unit properties, the scale of work required is often extensive. Tuckpointing contractors chicago have the tools and workforce to manage complex repairs across high-rise façades, large retail structures, and aging institutional buildings. These professionals use scaffolding, grinding equipment, and advanced sealants to ensure that every joint is properly restored. Their work not only increases structural resilience but also improves a building’s energy efficiency by eliminating points where air and moisture can penetrate.

Understanding the Value of Local Tuckpointing Knowledge

The city’s seasonal extremes—from deep freezes to high humidity—demand a specific approach to tuckpointing chicago. Local professionals are familiar with the impact of freeze-thaw cycles on masonry and can recommend materials and schedules that prevent recurring damage. They’re also versed in regional regulations, building codes, and permitting requirements, helping building owners stay compliant while extending the lifespan of their masonry structures.

Comprehensive Tuckpointing Services for Commercial Properties

Large-scale projects often require more than just joint replacement. Cleaning, sealing, brick replacement, and surface repairs may also be needed to achieve a full restoration. Providers of tuckpointing services chicago offer these integrated solutions, ensuring that each part of the building envelope is treated properly. These services are tailored to the unique characteristics of each property, from brick colour and mortar formulation to the age and condition of the façade.

[reddanceragain]

Heather Cox Richardson

March 10, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 11

Last week’s dramatically dropping stock market prompted Fox News Channel personality Maria Bartiromo to ask Trump in an interview that aired yesterday if he was expecting a recession. Trump answered: “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.”

Yesterday evening, on Air Force One, a reporter asked President Donald Trump if he is worried about a recession. “Who knows?” the president answered. “All I know is this: We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money. I’m telling you, you just watch. We’re going to have jobs. We’re going to have open factories. It’s going to be great.”

(NOTE - WHAT A FUCKING MORON!!! TARIFFS ARE DISASTROUS TO ECONOMIES AND PAID FOR BY CONSUMERS!!!)

Today the stock market plunged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 prominent companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges fell by 890 points, more than 2%. The S&P 500, which tracks the stocks of 500 of the largest companies listed in the U.S., fell by 2.7%. The Nasdaq Composite, which tracks tech stocks, fell by 4%. Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla closed down more than 15%, dropping more than 45% this year. Tonight, as the Asian markets opened on the other side of the world, the slide continued.

According to MarketWatch, this is the worst start to a presidential term since 2009, when the country was in the subprime mortgage crisis. Trump did not inherit an economy mired in crisis, of course; he inherited what was, at the time, the strongest economy in the world. That booming economy is no more: Goldman is now predicting higher inflation and slower growth than it had previously forecast, while its forecast for Europe is now stronger than it had been.

Trump has always been a dodgy salesman more than anything, telling supporters what they want to hear. He insisted that the strong economy under former president Joe Biden was, in fact, a disaster that only he could fix. In October, Trump told attendees at a rally: “We will begin a new era of soaring incomes. Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before.”

That sales pitch got Trump away from the criminal cases against him and back into the White House. Now, though, he needs to make the sales pitch fit into a reality that it doesn’t match. Trump is “steering the country toward a downturn with his tariffs and cuts to spending and the federal workforce—for no logical reason,” Washington Post economic reporter Heather Long wrote on March 6. “Trump’s whipsaw actions have put businesses and consumers on edge,” she noted. If they stop spending at the same time that the government slashes jobs and spending, a downward spiral could lead to a recession. “Trump is inciting an economic storm,” Long wrote. “The big question is why he’s doing this.”

One answer might be that Trump’s top priority is the extension of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, at the same time that he has also promised to cut the deficit. Those two things are utterly at odds: the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending the tax cuts will cost the country more than $4 trillion over the next ten years.

Tariffs appear to have been Trump’s workaround for that incompatibility. He claimed that tariffs would shift the burden of funding the U.S. government to foreign countries. When economists reiterated that tariffs are paid by U.S. consumers and would drive up prices and slow growth, he insisted they were wrong. Increasingly, tariffs seem to have become for him not just the solution to his economic dilemma, but also a symbol of American strength.

“[T]ariffs are not just about protecting American jobs,” Trump told Congress last week. “They are about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again, and it is happening and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that.”

After watching Trump talk to Fox News Channel host Bret Baier in mid-February, Will Saletan of The Bulwark noted that Trump seemed truly to believe that tariffs would bring in “tremendous amounts of money.” For that, as well as his apparent conviction that Palestinians should evacuate Gaza so the U.S. could “take over” and develop the real estate there, and that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state, and so on, Saletan concluded “Donald Trump is Delusional.”

Another reason for Trump’s dogged determination to impose tariffs despite the pain they are inflicting on Americans might lie in James Fallows’s observation in Breaking the News after the president’s speech to Congress that Trump’s mental acuity is slipping. Fallows noted that Trump’s vocabulary has shrunk markedly since his first term and he appears to be falling back on “more primitive and predictable” phrases. Tonight the president appeared to be moving back in time, as well, advertising the availability of the first season of “the Emmy nominated ORIGINAL APPRENTICE STARRING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.”

The White House said today in a statement: “Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to President Trump’s America First economic agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and the unleashing of American energy with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs. President Trump delivered historic job, wage, and investment growth in his first term, and is set to do so again in his second term.”

(NOTE: THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT, UTTER LIE!!!)

As the administration’s economic policies are rocking the economy, the administration’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Syrian-born Palestinian activist who figured prominently in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University last April, seems designed to rock society. According to Democracy Now, Khalil is an Algerian citizen, but he holds a U.S. green card and is married to a U.S. citizen who is 8 months pregnant.

Shortly after he took office, Trump issued an executive order saying he would revoke the student visas of anyone he claimed sympathized with Hamas. On Saturday, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil. Khalil’s lawyer said that ICE agents claimed they were acting on the orders of the State Department to revoke Khalil’s student visa, apparently unaware that Khalil, who graduated from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024, is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. When his wife showed officers documents proving that status, the lawyer said, an officer said they were revoking his green card instead. He is apparently being held in Louisiana.

The revocation of a green card is very rare. The Associated Press noted that the Department of Homeland Security can begin the process of deportation for lawful permanent residents who are connected to alleged criminal activity. But Khalil hasn’t been charged with a crime. Nik Popli of Time magazine notes that a green card holder can be deported for supporting terrorist groups, but in that case the government must have material evidence. A Homeland Security spokesperson did not offer any such evidence, saying simply that Khalil’s arrest was “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism” and that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”

That is, the Trump administration has arrested and detained a legal resident for expressing an opinion that Trump officials don’t like, likely using Khalil to launch this extraordinary attack on the First Amendment because they don’t expect Americans to care deeply about his fate. Once the principle is established that the government can arrest and jail protesters, though, officials will use it to silence opposition broadly. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” Trump posted just after noon. “We know there are more students at Columbia who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.”

Representative Greg Casar (D-TX) posted: “This is illegal, and it endangers the rights of all Americans. In this country, people must be free to express their views—left or right, popular or unpopular—without being detained or punished by the government.” On this basic principle, Americans across the political spectrum appear to agree. Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter was one of those who stepped back from the idea of arrests and deportations of those expressing opinions. “There’s almost no one I don’t want to deport,” she posted, “but, unless they’ve committed a crime, isn’t this a violation of the first amendment?”

Today, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered that Khalil “shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” and ordered a hearing on Wednesday.

[mariacallous]

Over the past two years, more than 20 states have expanded access to state jobs through a simple move: assessing or removing bachelor’s degree requirements. With state, local, and federal governments employing 15% of the U.S. workforce, these actions are of enormous consequence, especially for “STARs,” or workers who are skilled through alternative routes. STARs—who have gained their skills through community college, the military, partial college, certification programs, and, most commonly, on-the-job training—represent over half of the nation’s workforce, and currently occupy approximately 2 million state jobs.

Government leaders see removing bachelor’s degree requirements as critical to meeting their hiring needs and public service delivery obligations. And at a time when states are struggling to fill a high number of open roles, removing these requirements can attract a larger pool of talent.

Many states already have laws or policies that forbid discrimination based on educational attainment. But in practice, hiring patterns have favored degrees, and the composition of the state workforce reflects this. While they comprise half of the workforce, STARs fill only 36% of state jobs—representing a gap of 1 million good state jobs for STARs nationwide.1 The explicit commitment to removing degree requirements is a signal to STARs that they are welcome to apply.

Further, these actions are meant to build a state workforce that reflects the community it serves. Historically, government employment has been used to improve economic equity, providing increased economic opportunities for members of historically disadvantaged groups (notably women and Black workers). In recent decades, however, the bias toward credentialing has resulted in the inadvertent exclusion of STARs, with disproportionate consequences. When a bachelor’s degree is required for a position, employers automatically screen out almost 80% of Latino or Hispanic workers and nearly 70% of Black, veteran, and rural workers. Increased STAR hiring will help correct this inequity.

It is still too early to measure the impact of these changes on hiring behavior, as it will take time while hiring numbers slowly accumulate through job turnover and new positions. Yet we can already see signs that the effort is bearing fruit. In the first quarter of this year, more than 20 states made a yearlong commitment to focus on skills-based hiring through the National Governors Association’s Skills in the States Community of Practice. As one of the lead partners, our organization—Opportunity@Work—supports states through peer learning to prepare and make action plans for the organizational changes needed to implement skills-based practices, which will ultimately improve hiring and advancement outcomes for STARs.

We also see changes in state job postings. We analyzed two years of data on jobs that paid over the national median wage and were posted by all the states that took action to remove degree requirements by April 2023.2 Our findings show that in the 12 months prior to these state actions, 51.1% of roles explicitly listed a bachelor’s degree as a requirement. In the 12 months following, that percentage fell to 41.8%—a nearly 10-point shift. The largest shifts occurred in job postings for roles in management, IT, administration, and human resources—all occupations in which STARs have been underrepresented in the public sector compared to the private sector. For example, in state governments, 69% of general and operations managers hold a bachelor’s degree, while only 45% do in the private sector.3

State leaders view these actions as a critical first step. “We are creating opportunities for everyone, not just those with higher education,” said Melissa Walker of the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration. “We want to draw on all kinds of experience.” Colorado has pragmatically focused on policy implementation and behavior change; in addition to updates to agency rules and regulations, its executive order focused on a transition to skills-based hiring as the norm for Colorado human resources, including funding for the training of hiring managers and development of a skills-based hiring toolkit. The state’s Department of Personnel and Administration is providing training and resources for human resources teams across state agencies, enabling each to make the necessary changes in their processes and procedures. Resources include a new job description template designed to identify skills—a simple tool that promotes skills-first thinking and behavior change at the hiring manager level.

Culture and systems change both take time. Adjusting common processes and procedures—as well as attitudes and behavior—is challenging, especially in a large, decentralized state government. Yet more than 20 states have begun this hard work. This month, bolstered by these early successes, Opportunity@Work is proud to launch the STARs Public Sector Hub to support these states and others on their skills-based journeys and build the public workforce to meet this moment.

[delicatestudentanchor]

HRMS and Payroll Solutions for IT Companies: Addressing Unique Workforce Challenges

frequently, making efficient workforce management a critical priority. From managing global teams to adhering to complex compliance regulations, IT companies face unique challenges. Generic HRMS and payroll software often fail to address these dynamic needs, making tailored solutions indispensable. Custom HRMS and payroll systems cater specifically to the challenges of IT companies, offering flexibility, automation, and scalability to ensure smooth operations.

Challenges Faced by IT Companies in Workforce Management

Dynamic Workforce Composition

IT companies often have a diverse workforce comprising full-time employees, freelancers, contractors, and remote workers. The project-based nature of the industry results in frequent hiring and attrition, further complicating workforce management. Custom HRMS solutions streamline processes like onboarding and offboarding, ensuring that the operations can carry on smoothly.

Complex Shift and Time Tracking

Global operations mean flexible work hours and multiple time zones, making traditional time-tracking systems ineffective. IT companies often deal with overlapping projects and team schedules, leading to inefficiencies. Custom attendance software provides automated time tracking and real-time monitoring, ensuring accurate reporting and productivity measurement.

Compliance and Legal Obligations

IT companies must navigate a web of local and international labour laws, tax regulations, and payroll requirements. Compliance errors can lead to hefty penalties and damage to reputation. Tailored HRMS systems offer built-in compliance tracking, automating statutory reporting and ensuring adherence to diverse legal frameworks.

Features of Custom HRMS and Payroll Solutions for IT Companies

Workforce Management Tools

Custom HRMS software offers advanced tools for managing every stage of the employee lifecycle. From customisable onboarding modules to engagement tools, these systems automate routine tasks, freeing up HR teams for strategic initiatives.

Payroll Automation

With IT companies managing distributed teams, payroll automation becomes crucial. Custom systems support multi-currency payroll, local tax regulations, and benefits administration, ensuring accurate and timely payments for all employees.

Compliance Tracking

Built-in compliance tools monitor labour laws and tax regulations, generating alerts and reports as needed. This automation minimises compliance risks, safeguarding the organisation from potential legal issues.

Performance and Productivity Analytics

Custom HRMS solutions provide insights into individual and team performance through integrated analytics tools. These systems help measure KPIs, track trends, and make data-driven decisions, optimising workforce efficiency.

Scalability and Integration

Designed to grow with the company, custom HRMS software integrates seamlessly with existing tools like Jira, Trello, and Slack. Scalable solutions ensure that the system adapts to the changing needs of an expanding workforce.

Benefits of Custom HRMS and Payroll Solutions for IT Companies

1. Improved Efficiency: Automation reduces manual tasks, eliminating errors and saving time. Centralised dashboards enable efficient management of employees, attendance, and payroll.

2. Enhanced Employee Experience: Self-service portals empower employees to manage leave, benefits, and payroll queries independently. Real-time updates on attendance and salary disbursement improve transparency and satisfaction.

3. Cost-Effectiveness: Custom solutions eliminate unnecessary features, reducing implementation and operational costs. Data insights enable better resource allocation, ensuring maximum ROI.

4. Better compliance management: Automated compliance tools reduce the risks associated with non-compliance, ensuring the organisation meets all legal obligations consistently.

Key Considerations for Choosing Custom HRMS and Payroll Solutions

Scalability and Flexibility: Ensure the system can grow and adapt to future workforce needs.

Data Security: Prioritise software that complies with global standards like GDPR and ISO 27001.

Integration: Choose software that can integrate seamlessly with existing tools and software.

Vendor Support: Ensure the provider offers reliable support and customisation capabilities to meet specific needs.

Conclusion

Tailored HRMS and payroll solutions are no longer a luxury but a necessity for IT companies navigating a dynamic workforce. These systems address unique challenges, offering automation, scalability, and compliance support, making them invaluable assets.

To remain competitive, IT companies must invest in custom HRMS software that enhances workforce management and operational efficiency. Opportune HR stands out as one of the best HRMS software providing companies in Mumbai for the IT sector. They have worked with clients in the IT sector and have first hand experience about the challenges they face. Their services include customisable HRMS and payroll softwares. Visit Opportune HR to learn more about their services.

[addie-harvey]

Sustainability in Crane Parts Manufacturing: A 2025 Perspective

The crane parts manufacturing industry is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by the growing emphasis on sustainability. As someone deeply embedded in this field, I’ve seen how sustainability has evolved from a buzzword to a core business strategy. By 2025, the impact of sustainability on crane parts manufacturing will be undeniable, reshaping everything from material sourcing to production processes.

The Green Revolution in Heavy Equipment

Gone are the days when sustainability in crane parts was limited to fuel efficiency. Today, it encompasses every stage of the manufacturing process. From the raw materials used to the disposal of components at the end of their lifecycle, sustainability is now a non-negotiable priority.

The Rise of Recycled Materials

One of the most significant changes is the increased use of recycled materials. Steel, a primary component of crane parts, is now frequently sourced from recycled materials without compromising strength or durability. This shift not only benefits the environment but also proves cost-effective for manufacturers and end-users alike.

Smart Manufacturing: Efficiency Meets Sustainability

The integration of smart manufacturing technologies has revolutionized crane parts production. Techniques like 3D printing and precision manufacturing have drastically reduced waste, while predictive maintenance systems extend the lifespan of existing parts.

During a recent visit to a manufacturing facility, I witnessed a zero-waste initiative in action. From recycling metal shavings to reusing packaging materials, every aspect of the process was optimized for sustainability. The results were impressive, showcasing how innovation can drive both environmental and economic benefits.

Energy-Efficient Production Methods

Modern crane parts are not only made from greener materials but are also produced using energy-efficient methods. Solar-powered facilities and energy-recovery systems are becoming standard in manufacturing plants. These changes aren’t just about reducing environmental impact—they’re also a smart response to rising energy costs.

The Role of Innovation

Innovation is at the heart of sustainable crane parts manufacturing. New composite materials, lighter and more durable than traditional options, are reducing energy consumption during operation and extending the lifespan of components. These advancements benefit both the environment and crane operators.

Real-World Impact

A colleague of mine, who runs a crane operation in the Midwest, recently switched to sustainably manufactured crane parts. Initially skeptical, he was pleasantly surprised by the results. Within six months, he reported reduced fuel consumption and longer intervals between replacements. The sustainable options not only improved his environmental footprint but also boosted his bottom line.

Economic Benefits

While the upfront cost of sustainable crane parts may be higher, the long-term benefits are clear:

Lower operating costs

Reduced maintenance requirements

Enhanced durability

Higher resale value

Compliance with environmental regulations

Future-Proofing Your Operations

As environmental regulations tighten, investing in sustainable crane parts is a strategic move. Companies that adopt these practices early will be better positioned to meet future requirements and stay competitive.

Practical Considerations for Crane Operators

If you’re considering upgrading to sustainable crane parts, keep these factors in mind:

Choose manufacturers with documented sustainable practices.

Evaluate the total lifecycle cost, not just the initial price.

Assess maintenance requirements and longevity.

Ensure compatibility with existing equipment.

Verify compliance with current and upcoming regulations.

The Human Element

Sustainable manufacturing isn’t just about materials and processes—it also impacts the workforce. Companies focusing on sustainability often provide better working conditions and advanced training, resulting in higher-quality products and improved customer support.

Looking Ahead

The push for sustainability in crane parts manufacturing is only gaining momentum. From biodegradable lubricants to smart components that optimize performance, the future is both green and intelligent.

Conclusion

The shift toward sustainability in Manitowoc crane parts manufacturing is more than a trend—it’s a fundamental transformation. While the transition may pose challenges, the benefits are undeniable: better performance, lower costs, and a reduced environmental footprint. For crane operators, embracing these changes is not just responsible—it’s essential for long-term success.

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Open Your Future: Essential Phlebotomy Course Outline for Aspiring Technicians

Unlock ​Your Future: Essential Phlebotomy Course Outline for Aspiring Technicians

Are you ‌looking to start a rewarding career in the healthcare field? A phlebotomy technician plays a‌ crucial role in drawing ⁢blood and ensuring patient care. With the growing demand for ‍healthcare professionals, enrolling in a phlebotomy ⁤course can be your first step⁣ toward⁢ a fulfilling profession.‌ This article presents an essential phlebotomy course outline designed to guide aspiring technicians, detailing critically important skills, course ​structure, and⁢ practical tips for success.

What is Phlebotomy?

Phlebotomy is the practice of drawing blood from patients for ‍medical ⁤testing, transfusions, research, or donations. Phlebotomy technicians ​are essential in ‍the healthcare landscape,ensuring that‍ blood samples are collected accurately ⁣and safely.

Why Choose ⁤a career in Phlebotomy?

High ‌Demand: The⁤ healthcare industry​ is continually expanding ⁢and in need of skilled phlebotomists.

Fast Training: Phlebotomy‍ courses ‌typically ⁣take ‌a few​ months ⁣to complete, allowing ⁤for a fast entry into the workforce.

Impactful Work: Phlebotomists play a critical role in patient care and‍ diagnostics.

Flexible Work ⁣Schedule: Many healthcare facilities offer varying shifts,providing work-life balance.

Essential⁢ Phlebotomy course outline

A extensive phlebotomy course ‍will cover a wide range of‌ topics⁤ to⁢ prepare you effectively for the ⁣field. ⁣Below is a detailed course‍ outline:

Module 1: Introduction ‍to Phlebotomy

History of Phlebotomy

Role and Responsibilities of a⁢ Phlebotomist

Overall healthcare system Overview

Module ‌2:​ Anatomy ⁣and physiology

understanding‌ Blood Composition

Human Circulatory System Basics

Common Blood Collection Sites

Module 3: blood​ Collection Techniques

Readiness and Setup

Venipuncture Techniques

Capillary Collection

Proper Use of ⁤Equipment

Module 4: Safety and Compliance

OSHA Regulations

Infection ⁢Control Practices

Handling Sharps and ⁢Waste Disposal Procedures

Module ⁤5: Laboratory⁤ Operations

Understanding⁣ Laboratory Procedures

Specimen Handling and ​transport

Basic Laboratory Information Systems

Module 6: Patient Interaction

Effective Dialogue Skills

Pre-Collection Patient Preparation

Patient safety and Comfort

Module 7: Hands-On ‌Training

Supervised blood⁢ Draws

Simulated Scenarios for Skill Development

Real-World Practice in Clinical Settings

Benefits ​of Completing ‌a Phlebotomy Course

Completing a phlebotomy course provides numerous benefits:

Certification: ⁤ Achieving certification can enhance your job prospects and credibility.

skill development: Gain practical skills to⁣ confidently perform blood ‌draws and ⁢interact with patients.

Networking Opportunities: Connections made through training ‌can lead to ‌job opportunities.

Practical tips for Aspiring Phlebotomists

Here are some practical tips ⁤to keep in mind as you pursue your phlebotomy certification:

Stay updated with the‌ latest phlebotomy techniques and guidelines.

Practice your skills regularly to build confidence and proficiency.

Develop strong interpersonal skills to improve ⁣patient​ interactions.

Join professional​ organizations‌ like⁤ the American Society for Clinical‌ Pathology⁤ (ASCP) for resources and networking.

Case Studies: Success stories in Phlebotomy

Many individuals have transformed their lives by pursuing a career in phlebotomy. As a notable example, Jane Doe, a ‌recent graduate, found her passion in phlebotomy after completing her certification program. Working in a‌ bustling hospital, she quickly advanced⁤ due to her dedication and ‌strong patient skills. Her story illustrates ‌the potential career growth in this field.

First-Hand Experience: A Day in the Life of a Phlebotomist

A typical ‍day for​ a phlebotomist can be varied and fulfilling. Most days⁤ start early,preparing the collection area,getting equipment ready,and ​reviewing patient information. The work environment ⁢is ofen fast-paced, ⁣with multiple patients to assist. Conducting blood draws, ⁣ensuring patient comfort, and adhering to safety protocols ⁣are all part of the job. Many phlebotomists find satisfaction in knowing that ⁢their work⁤ directly contributes to⁤ patient health and recovery.

Conclusion

Embarking⁤ on a career as a phlebotomy technician can be a life-changing decision.By understanding the essential phlebotomy course outline ‍and the skills you’ll acquire, you’re taking the first step towards unlocking your future in ⁣healthcare. With the right‍ training and dedication,you can enjoy‌ a rewarding career filled with opportunities ‍for growth and impact.​ Get ‌started ⁤today on⁢ your phlebotomy ​journey and make a difference in the lives of patients.

https://phlebotomyschoolsonline.org/open-your-future-essential-phlebotomy-course-outline-for-aspiring-technicians/