- UK Job Growth Hits Record Level After Quarantine
- Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google From 36 US States
- Pfizer/Biontech To Apply To FDA For Third-Dose Covid-19 Vaccine Authorization
UK Job Growth Hits Record Level After Quarantine
Employers in the United Kingdom are facing the worst staff shortages since the late 1990s, owing to a rush to reopen following the lockdown and a steep decline in international workers due to Covid and Brexit.
As well as the trouble recruiting chefs, kitchen porters, cleaners, and warehouse staff recorded in previous months, the snapshot indicated that issues for employers were spreading to typically higher-paying sectors such as finance, IT, accounting, and engineering.
“We need action from businesses and government to reskill and upskill furloughed and prospective workers now more than ever, as the increasing skills gap in the workforce has the potential to slow the UK’s economic recovery,” said Claire Warnes, head of education, skills and productivity at KPMG UK.
According to the UK Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) research, the number of job vacancies also hit the highest level in the last 24 years for which data was kept.
“Recruiters are working to fill vacancies in our economy. The job market is recovering the fastest I’ve ever seen, but we’re still in an unpredictable time,” REC CEO Neil Carberry said in a statement.
The REC research also showed that starting wages experienced the most significant increase since 2014, and hourly wages for part-time workers showed the strongest growth since 2004.
Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google From 36 US States
Thirty-six states and Washington DC have sued Google in the US for allegedly violating US antitrust rules. The 36 states include Utah, New York, California, Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit challenges Google’s policy requiring Google Play app creators to pay a 30% commission charge on sales made through the app.
“To collect and maintain this extravagant commission, Google has employed anti-competitive tactics to diminish and disincentivize competition in Android app distribution,” the suit said. “Google has not only targeted potentially competing for app stores but also has ensured that app developers themselves have no reasonable choice but to distribute their apps through the Google Play Store.”
In addition to the suit filed on Wednesday, Google is also facing a lawsuit filed in October by the Justice Department and 14 states, focusing on Google’s efforts to dominate the mobile search market; a suit filed in December by 38 states and territories, also concentrate on search; and a third suit filed by 15 states and territories, focusing on Google’s power over advertising technology.
In a blog post, Google dismissed the suit as “meritless,” saying the changes the plaintiffs demand for its Google Play store risk “raising costs for small developers, impeding their ability to innovate and compete, and making apps across the Android ecosystem less secure for consumers.”
“This lawsuit isn’t about helping the little guy or protecting consumers,” the company said. “It’s about boosting a handful of major app developers who want the benefits of Google Play without paying for it.”
Pfizer/Biontech To Apply To FDA For Third-Dose Covid-19 Vaccine Authorization
It has been stated that the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer will apply to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the third dose application of the coronavirus vaccine produced with its German partner BioNTech.
In the statement, it was noted that the current vaccine was updated against the Delta variant that emerged in India, and it was stated that the third dose of Covid-19 vaccine, which will be made within 12 months after the second dose, will have a substantial effect on preventing new variants of the virus.
Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer’s chief scientific officer, said the vaccine’s recently reported drop in effectiveness in Israel was primarily attributable to infections in persons who were vaccinated in January or February. In June, the country’s health ministry said that vaccine effectiveness in preventing infection and symptomatic disease had dropped to 64%.
“The Pfizer vaccine is highly active against the Delta variant,” Dolsten said in an interview. But after six months, he said, “there likely is the risk of reinfection as antibodies, as predicted, wane.”
“It’s a small data set, but I think the trend is accurate: Six months out, given that Delta is the most contagious variant we have seen, it can cause infections and mild disease,” Dolsten said.
In a joint statement, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that Americans who have been completely vaccinated do not require a booster Covid-19 dose at this time.
