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POSITIVE OUTLOOK FOR THE ISLAND’S EMPLOYMENT
Hiring Predictions for Q4 2022
Puerto Rico scores higher than global average
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Zoe Landi Fontana, The Weekly Journal
As might be expected when coming out of the slower summer months and heading into the busy holiday season, net recruitment expectation –a hiring prediction found by subtracting the percentage of employers who expect a decrease in their workforce from the percentage who anticipate an increase– is positive for most countries. This is the first year that Puerto Rico is included in Manpower Group’s Employment Expectations Survey, which is conducted in 41 countries and predicts employment trends. For Puerto Rico, the sample included 250 private sector employers throughout the island.
The survey divided Puerto Rico into three zones: Central, East, and West. The Central zone and the East presented the best hiring predictions, with +33% and +32%, respectively. The West zone is expected to experience a net recruitment expectation of +27%. Overall, Puerto Rico is projected to experience a net recruitment expectation of +32%, which is higher than the global net expectation of +30% going into the fourth quarter of 2022. Of Puerto Rico’s employers, 44% plan to increase their workforce, while 12% of the employers expect to decrease their workforce. Another 35% do not expect changes, and only 9% responded that they are unsure.
Commerce responded with the strongest hiring plans with a net recruitment expectation of +67%. Banking, finance, and real estate followed with +66%, then the construction industry with +61%. As for company size, microenterprises –made up of less than 10 employees– report the best hiring expectations compared to other company sizes, at +37%.
In fact,
Global expectations
The survey revealed uneven economic growth between countries, with various markets responding differently to the conflict in Ukraine, rising inflation, and higher living costs. Despite these challenges, the demand for skilled workers remains at record levels.
Employers in 39 of the 41 countries and territories surveyed expect to increase their workforce during the period from September to December 2022, including all countries in the Americas. Recruitment intention is positive in 39 of the 41 countries, with a net recruitment expectation of +30% globally. Brazil, India, and Costa Rica are predicted to hire the most, with recruitment expectations of +56%, +54%, and +52% respectively. Meanwhile, Hungary (-5 %), Greece (-3 %) and Poland (+1 %) are faring worse. By region, Asia-Pacific (APAC) presents the strongest hiring intentions for this quarter with +40%, South and Central America +39%. Employers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) report stable recruitment expectations (+21%). However, employment prospects for countries near Ukraine have reported a decline of up to 17% since the last quarter.
Globally, the technology sector makes up the highest recruitment expectations at an optimistic +42%, followed by Banking, Finance and Real Estate with +37%.
In fact,
Scant availability of information regarding best management practices has resulted in the increased dependence on agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) in Puerto Rico.
Regenerative farming: solution to both farmers and the land
Farming technique sparks interest in the agriculture sector
Madison Choudhry, Special to the Weekly Journal
Puerto Rico’s farmers are standing at a crossroad. Between the devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria, supply chain issues and rising food cost due to inflation, the island’s agricultural sector has been stripped to its roots. However, a small group of Puerto Ricans are touting a solution: regenerative farming.
In a world where the population is booming, the climate is changing, and wilderness areas are diminishing, the pressure for high-yield agricultural production is on the rise. Intensification is occurring on a global scale, Puerto Rico being no exception. However, there has been very little attention given to improving the crop varieties grown in Puerto Rico. Claims have been made Puerto Rican produce lacks resilience to rising temperatures, threats of hurricanes and disease, meaning that a single bad year could have a serious impact on the local agricultural economy.
“Part of what’s needed now is a more holistic policy platform—one that pushes for transformational changes to our food and fiber system alongside the grassroots organizations, community leaders, artists, and revolutionary farmers we are learning from,” says Claire O’Connor, director of water and agriculture at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
As a philosophy and approach to land management, regenerative agriculture asks us to think about how all aspects of agriculture are connected through a web—a network of entities who grow, enhance, exchange, distribute, and consume goods and services—instead of a linear supply chain. It’s about farming and ranching in a style that nourishes people and the earth, with specific practices varying from grower to grower and from region to region.
“When we speak with farmers and ranchers focused on regenerative agriculture, they tell us that their notion of ‘success’ goes beyond yield and farm size,” says Lara Bryant, deputy director of water and agriculture at NRDC.
Bryant explained “it includes things like joy and happiness, the number of families they feed, watching how the land regenerates and flourishes, the money saved from not purchasing chemical inputs, the debt avoided by repurposing old equipment, and the relationships built with community members.”
It is important to appreciate that this is not a new idea and not all who practice these principles use the label regenerative farming. In fact, indigenous communities have farmed in nature’s image for millennia.
The regenerative agriculture movement is the dawning realization among more people that an Indigenous approach to agriculture can help restore ecologies, fight climate change, rebuild relationships, spark economic development, and bring joy,” says Arohi Sharma, water and agriculture policy analyst at NRDC.
Scant availability of information regarding
-Lara Bryant, deputy director Water &
best management practices has resulted in the increased dependence on agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) in Puerto Rico. Poor management can lead to the soil becoming depleted of essential nutrients for crop growth, leading to a further increased need for fertilizer application. Agrochemical production costs both financially and environmentally have become an unsustainable option for the future of farming systems. As hurricanes, flash floods, and other extreme weather patterns become more frequent, farmers and ranchers are awakening to the idea they must prepare their land to be more resilient. Healthy soils with high amounts of organic matter are able to absorb more water during a flood— to the benefit of the farmer and downstream communities—and even help maintain water security.
Arrests of UK anti-royal protesters spur free-speech debate
The civil rights group “worried” to see police enforcing their powers in a heavy-handed and punitive way
Jill Lawless – The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — In a country famed for irreverence, some worry a new code of silence has taken hold.
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a handful of people in Britain have been detained by police for expressing — often bluntly — anti-monarchy views.
A woman in Edinburgh holding a sign reading “F—— imperialism, abolish the monarchy” was charged with a breach of the peace. A man faced the same charge after he heckled Prince Andrew as the queen’s hearse traveled through the Scottish capital.
In Oxford, peace activist Symon Hill was put in handcuffs after he shouted his opposition during a ceremonial proclamation of the new king.
Hill said he spontaneously called out “Who elected him?” because he objects to a head of state being imposed on the country.
“I doubt most of the people in the crowd even heard me,” he wrote on his blog. “Two or three people near me told me to shut up.” Hill said he was put into a police van by officers who told him he was being detained for alleged behavior that could cause “harassment, alarm or distress.” He was later released but could still face questioning.
“The police abused their powers to arrest someone who voiced some mild opposition to a head of state being appointed undemocratically,” he said.
In London, a woman was moved from the gates of Parliament while carrying a “Not my king” sign. Police said she was removed from the spot, where a police officer was stabbed to death by an Islamist attacker in 2017, to allow vehicles in and was not asked to leave the wider area.
Lawyer Paul Powlesland said he was questioned by police outside Parliament on Monday while carrying a blank piece of paper on which he, too, planned to write “Not my king.” In footage shot by Powlesland, an officer is heard saying “it may offend someone” if he wrote the words.
Powlesland called the police behavior “outrageous.”
The civil rights group Liberty said it was “very worrying to see the police enforcing their broad powers in such a heavy-handed and punitive way to clamp down on free speech and expression.”
Republic, a group that campaigns for the abolition of the monarchy, said it would be complaining to police “in the strongest possible terms,” and would organize protests at the king’s coronation in the coming months. “Free speech is fundamental to any democracy,” said spokesman Graham Smith. “At a time when the media is saturated with fawning over a king appointed without discussion or consent, it is even more important.” The arrests come after the government passed a contentious law-and-order bill that toughens police powers to limit disruptive protests. It’s not clear whether any of the arrests involved the new law. Prime Minister Liz Truss’s spokesman, Max Blain, said that while “this is a period of national mourning, and indeed grief, for the vast majority of the United Kingdom … the right to protest does remain a fundamental principle.”
But he said it is “for the police to decide what is appropriate in individual circumstances.”
The queen’s death has triggered one of the biggest security operations in British history.
In fact,
The arrests come after the government passed a contentious lawand-order bill that toughens police powers to limit disruptive protests. Some 500 royals, heads of state and heads of government from around the world are expected at the late monarch’s state funeral on Monday. Before that, hundreds of thousands are expected to line up in a queue snaking through central London to see the queen lying in state at Parliament’s Westminster Hall. Huge crowds have already gathered near Buckingham Palace and other royal residences to leave notes and flowers or simply be part of a moment in history. London’s Metropolitan Police force said “the overwhelming majority of interactions between officers and public at this time have been positive.” “The public absolutely have a right of protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy.
People protest ahead of the Accession Proclamation Ceremony at Cardiff Castle, Wales, publicly proclaiming King Charles III as the new monarch. >Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
Symon Hill, peace activist
