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As the longest government shutdown in U.S. history continues, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered flight reductions at 40 major airports, including Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles. The move begins with affecting 4% of flights, with plans to ramp up to impact 1 in 10 flights at those airports, disrupting travel plans for thousands of Americans every day. But Patriotic Millionaires, a group of high-net-worth individuals who advocate for more progressive taxes in order to close the wealth gap, is suggesting an alternative that it says would spare commercial airline passengers and still offer relief for air traffic controllers: Just cancel all private flights. Private jets specificallywhich are more expensive and hold more passengers than small private planesmake up one out of every six flights handled by the FAA, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. Private jet use has also been soaring in recent years, and the U.S. is responsible for the most private flights. If you need a 10% reduction [in flights], you can get 100% of your reduction from the private planes. You do not need to affect commercial flights, period, says Erica Payne, president and founder of Patriotic Millionaires. To Payne, the FAA is choosing to have everyone suffer rather than grounding planes that are destroying the planet and flying one or two people at a time in the lap of luxury. Some private flights may well end up being part of those 4% to 10% reductions happening at major hubs. But Patriotic Millionaires is suggesting that the FAA target private flights specifically, sparing commercial passengers. Private jets and public resources Everyone who flies pays toward the taxes that help fund the FAA, which then pays the salaries of its employees, including air traffic controllers. During the government shutdown, air traffic controllers are considered essential workers, and required to keep doing their jobs without pay. That reality is now straining air traffic controllers, many of whom work mandatory overtime six days a week, and so arent able to take on other jobs. Theyve been increasingly taking six days. Already, at least 3.4 million travelers have been affected by staffing shortages, according to the industry group Airlines for America. For the average airline passenger, a 7.5% tax on their ticket price, plus a charge that can go up to $4.50, goes toward the FAAs Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Private jet flyers contribute just 2% of the taxes that make up that fund. While some private flights take off from major airport hubs, there are also airports that only serve private air travel, like Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles, one of the countrys busiest aviation hubs. That airport is not on the FAAs list of affected high traffic airports. In some cases, airports that mainly serve private jets have also collected taxpayer dollars, like the Napa Valley Airport in California, which collected $6.3 million over two years. Private jet travelers have already gotten away with having the American taxpayers pick up their jet setting, Payne says. We are funding the jet-setting pollution-causing air travel of the richest people in the country. Now were being asked to suffer cancellations and delays, when weve already been picking up their transportation costs for decades, she continues. And theres an easy way out of this. Patriotic Millionaires are saying: shut down private air travel during the government shutdown, and use that extra capacity. Fast Company reached out to the FAA for comment. An automatic reply said the agency is not responding to routine press requests during the shutdown. A highlight on wealth inequality To Payne, this move to affect commercial flights while seemingly ignoring private jet travel is another example of the way issues around wealth inequality are being highlighted across the country. The transportation secretary stands up there and says 1 out of every 10 people in America flying somewhere are going to suffer a delay or cancellation, while wealthy people are not even asked to park their planes and fly first class for a few days, Payne says. President Trumps recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act also gives more than $1 trillion in tax cuts to the countrys top 1%. Patriotic Millionairess suggestion to the FAA also comes the same week that Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral race. Mamdani ran on taxing the wealthy in order to fund programs like free childcare and buses. Billionaires spent millions of dollars opposing his campaign. Patriotic Millionaires says it is reaching out to all members of the House and Senate committees to suggest they ground private planes rather than affect commercial flights. The group is also creating a series of social media posts to highlight the idea, including ones that feature Patriotic Millionaires member Abigail Disney. This needs to become an issue, Payne says. We plan to do everything in our power to make it an issue.
Category:
E-Commerce
The headlines are clear: AI is disrupting entry-level jobs across industries, including consulting and professional services. There’s just one problem. Eliminating these roles overlooks a critical business needyour pipeline of next generation leaders. The rush from pyramid to diamond workforce models is short-sighted. In the pyramid model, you grow leaders from the ground up. In the diamond model, you cut the base and bet on later-stage talent to carry the weight. It may look efficient now, but it comes at the expense of long-term leadership development. If we don’t shift the trajectory, it’s likely to worsen the leadership gender gap. Despite women outpacing men in college graduation rates, recent Russell Reynolds data finds men are still 2.5 times more likely to be executives than women, and 10 times more likely to be CEOs at S&P 100 organizations. Yet, women remain underrepresented in feeder roles to the top job. The solution isn’t some new, fancy workplace tech platform or another mandatory training program. It’s intentional mentorship that directly addresses barriers women experience in advancing their careers. WHY UPSKILLING PROGRAMS FALL SHORT So why are companies still betting on upskilling programs? They look great on slides and earnings calls. They’re measurable, seemingly fair, and relatively simple to implement. They’re also not moving the needle. The problem lies in traditional delivery. Put simply, classroom or lecture settings without immediate practice opportunities fall short. Online training will not build our next generation of leaders. The approaches overlook two human-centric barriers that many professionals, particularly women, face: representation and confidence. Seeing people in top positions who look like you proves you can make it there, too. Harvard Business School research found that women are less likely than men to apply for advanced jobs because they think they aren’t qualified enough. I distinctly remember when a new leadership opportunity came my way. Instead of immediately jumping at it, I spent an entire day poring over role requirements and determining whether the position felt true to my identity. At that point, I just considered myself to fall squarely in the marketer role. Ultimately, I took a chance, accepting the new role. In that critical moment, I was fortunate to have mentors who pushed me to think about myself and my capabilities more expansively. That push, more than any certificate, gave me confidence to take on the challenge. This mindset shift allowed me to then pay it back, leading to countless hours in the trenches, coaching team members on how to best deliver their tasks, regardless of how the members professionally defined themselves. THE MENTORSHIP ADVANTAGE Why is quality mentorship so effective? When done right, it’s deliberate and rooted in real experience. Here’s my playbook, as seen through a soccer lens, a sport near and dear to my heart: 1. Find the right fit. Building a team with myriad skillsets is essential to any winning soccer club. It’s ideal to have both male and female mentors. There’s value in someone who thinks differently and may have unique strengths you don’t have. And there’s value that can only come from someone who has walked in your shoes. Take maternity leave, for example. Women working with me tend to have easier transitions back because I have lived it and my philosophy is to always celebrate the small moments that carry outsized positive impact. Mentors don’t have to be all things to mentees. Instead, seek mentors with specific strengths. You might seek a leader known for bold, creative thinking, and another leader strong in people management. 2. Get in the trenches. I believe in “learning in combat”education that comes from sitting in client meetings and sales calls, being in the room where tough conversations happen, and getting real-time feedback on actual work. Time spent on the field together always outweighs theoretical examples and 1:1 coaching. 3. Be vulnerable. For me, that means showing people the marshmallow I am on the inside of this executive exterior. Mentors should create an environment where mentees feel comfortable showing their strengths and weaknesses. Authenticity beats a fake front any day. This comes from celebrating your wins, but also asking your teammates for help when you are struggling. A defender under pressure passes back to the goalkeeper, trusting their teammate to help the team stay in controla reminder that asking for support keeps everyone moving forward. 4. Know when to listen and when to speak up. Real mentorship is about creating space for people to figure things out, not just giving advice without hearing what someone has to say. When mentors are effective listeners, they can better advocate. Sometimes that means being the voice advocating for an idea others gloss over because you see the potential in the person surfacing it. Other times, it means understanding a mentee’s dream job and clearing the way for them to secure it. Any good coach can attest to the importance of this approach with their players. 5. Get out of the way. Too many leaders listen to junior colleagues talk about their dreams, then forget to give them the opportunity to reach them. In soccer, the left wing fights to let the striker take the shot. But if the striker never gets the ball, it’s useless to have that position. Say “ok” and let your players play. There’s a delta between knowing mentorship works and building programs that deliver. The most effective programs have leadership buy-in, authentic matching, and accountability. Companies must expect leaders to coach, then create space and accountability for it. Not every leader needs to be a mentor, but you need enough who will and who want to. DIAMONDS AREN’T FOREVER (IN THE WORKPLACE) ROI and value creation remain paramount. Companies can continue chasing short-term gains and allow AI to eliminate their next generation of leadersmale or femaleor they can do the harder work of building intentional mentorship relationships that create a more level playing field. Companies that over-index towards these diamond models will inevitably have to swing back. The importance of strong mentorship will never be obsolete. The question is whether companies realize this before or after losing a generation of strong, diverse talent to organizations that remained focused on their potential. Casey Foss is chief commercial officer of West Monroe.
Category:
E-Commerce
When Carly Kaprive left a job in Kansas City and moved to Chicago a year ago, she figured it would take three to six months to find a new position. After all, the 32-year old project manager had never been unemployed for longer than three months.Instead, after 700 applications, she’s still looking, wrapped up in a frustrating and extended job hunt that is much more difficult than when she last looked for work just a couple of years ago. With uncertainty over interest rates, tariffs, immigration, and artificial intelligence roiling much of the economy, some companies she’s interviewed with have abruptly decided not to fill the job at all.“I have definitely had mid-interview roles be eliminated entirely, that they are not going to move forward with even hiring anybody,” she said.Kaprive is caught in a historical anomaly: The unemployment rate is low and the economy is still growing, but those out of work face the slowest pace of hiring in more than a decade. Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, calls it a “jobless boom.”While big corporate layoff announcements typically grab the most attention, it has been the unwillingness of many companies to add workers that has created a more painful job market than the low 4.3% unemployment rate would suggest. It is also more bifurcated: The “low hire, low fire” economy has meant fewer layoffs for those with jobs, while the unemployed struggle to find work.“It’s like an insider-outsider thing,” Guy Berger, head of research at the Burning Glass Institute said, “where outsiders that need jobs are struggling to get their foot in, even as insiders are insulated by what up until now is a low-layoff environment.”Several large companies have recently announced tens of thousands of job cuts in the past few weeks, including UPS, Target, and IBM, though Berger said it is too soon to tell whether they signal a turn for the worse in the economy. But a rise in job cuts would be particularly challenging with hiring already so low.For now, it’s harder than ever to get a clear read on the job market because the government shutdown has cut off the U.S. Department of Labor’s monthly employment reports. The October jobs report was scheduled for release Friday but has been delayed, like the September figures before it. The October report may be less comprehensive when it is released because not all the data may be collected.Before the shutdown, the Labor Department reported that the hiring rate the number of people hired in a given month, as a percentage of those employed fell to 3.2% in August, matching the lowest figure outside the pandemic since March 2013.Back then, the unemployment rate was a painful 7.5%, as the economy slowly recovered from the job losses from the 2008-2009 Great Recession. That is much higher than August’s 4.3%.Many of those out of work are skeptical of the current low rate. Brad Mislow, 54, has been mostly unemployed for the past three years after losing a job as an advertising executive in New York City. Now he is substitute teaching to make ends meet.“It is frustrating to hear that the unemployment rate is low, the economy is great,” he said. “I think there are people in this economy who are basically fighting every day and holding on to pieces of flotsam in the shark-filled waters or, they have no idea what it’s like.”With the government closed, financial markets are paying closer attention to private-sector data, but that is also mixed. On Thursday, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas unnerved investors with a report that announced job cuts surged 175% in October from a year ago.Yet on Wednesday, payroll processor ADP said that net hiring picked up in October as businesses added 42,000 jobs, after two months of declines. Still, the gain was modest. ADP’s figures are based on anonymous data from the 26 million workers at its client companies.Separately, Revelio Labs, a workplace analytics company, estimated Thursday that the economy shed 9,000 jobs in October. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago estimates that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% last month.Even when the government was releasing data, economists and officials at the Federal Reserve weren’t sure how healthy the job market was or where it was headed next. A sharp drop in immigration and stepped-up deportations have helped keep the unemployment rate low simply by reducing the supply of workers. The economy doesn’t need to create as many jobs to keep the unemployment rate from rising.Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, has called in a “curious balance” because both the supply of and demand for workers has fallen.Economists point to many reasons for the hiring slowdown, but most share a common thread: Greater uncertainty from tariffs, the potential impact of artificial intelligence, and now the government shutdown. While investment in data centers to power AI is booming, elevated interest rates have kept many other parts of the economy weak, such as manufacturing and housing.“The concentration of economic gains (in AI) has left the economy looking better on paper than it feels to most Americans,” Swonk said.Younger Americans have borne the brunt of the hiring slowdown, but many older workers have also struggled.Suzanne Elder, 65, is an operations executive with extensive experience in health care, and two years ago the Chicago resident also found work quickly three months after she left a job, she had three offers. Now she’s been unemployed since April.She is worried that her age is a challenge, but isn’t letting it hold her back. “I got a job at 63, so I don’t see a reason to not get a job at 65,” she said.Like many job-hunters, she has been stunned by the impersonal responses from recruiters, often driven by hiring software. She received one email from a company that thanked her for speaking with them, though she never had an interview. Another company that never responded to her resume asked her to fill out a survey about their interaction.Weak hiring has meant unemployment spells are getting longer, according to government data. More than one-quarter of those out of work have been unemployed for more than six months or longer, a figure that rose sharply in July and August and is up from 21% a year ago.Swonk said that such increases are unusual outside recessions.A rising number of the unemployed have also given up on their job searches, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. That also holds down the unemployment rate because people who stop looking aren’t counted as unemployed.But Kaprive is still sticking with it she’s taken classes abot Amazon’s web services platform to boost her technology skills.“We can’t be narrow-minded in what we’re willing to take,” she said. Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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