Supply Chain Briefs

This article originally appeared in Chief Executive on January 24, 2023.

Most European countries went into a second lockdown in November. How will this lockdown impact economic growth, jobs and business confidence? The short answer is: milder than feared.

One of the striking features of COVID-19 is that it appears to be much more dangerous for older people than for younger people. As a result, older people are more likely to stay at home and avoid having other people enter their home. As older Americans will experience a longer and more extreme social distancing, they are likely to cut back on spending more than younger people.

There is a great deal of evidence about the increasing sophistication of the assessments that investors, insurers, and others use in applying ESG indicators to evaluate risk and return. The President’s executive order brings the impact of climate change on retirement investments to the fore.

Now, more than in any other time during this decade, we see signs of a comeback in automation activity. The timing could not be better. Labor shortages are becoming a growing problem for the US economy, especially in jobs that do not require a college degree, which in large part are the jobs where automation is likely to have the most impact. From a demographic perspective, this problem is only going to get worse.