Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 28, 2017

The National League of Cities recently released Discover Your City's Maker Economy , a report that "provides a roadmap for cities to develop policies, programs and a culture that better supports local maker businesses." The recent article  Economy of Scale: Can the Maker Movement Revive U.S. Manufacturing?

Policies 170

Policies UPS 170

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 8, 2017

The "Big 4" accounting and consulting firm Deloitte has released a series of articles, podcasts and videos on the future of work.  It includes an interview with Thomas Friedman, who also authored one of the future work articles. Deloitte’s not the only big company diving into the future of work.

Policies 140

Policies Google Interviewing 140

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

  Controversy swirled around grocery delivery company Instacart and their policy on tipping, witch many called wage theft. While this led to Instacart changing their policy, other food delivery companies so far are continuing with their tipping practices despite complaints by both drivers and customers. 

Restaurants 119

Restaurants 2019 Policies Filing 119

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 11, 2018

But it's an important trend and there continues to be a flurry of interesting articles on working in and/or delaying retirement. " The article suggest that corporations need to change their policies to retain older workers instead of losing them and their skills and knowledge.

Retirement 156

Retirement Mentoring Policies AT&T 156

Small Business Labs

MARCH 8, 2018

A study on ridesharing drivers -  The Economics of Ride-Hailing: Driver Revenue, Expenses and Taxes - was released last week by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. After all, the folks at the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research are obviously smart, talented researchers.

Expenses 155

Expenses Policies AT&T Confidence 155

Small Business Labs

JULY 2, 2018

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) dug through social security data and found the number of self-employed grew between 2000 and 2015 (the most recent data available).    Their chart below shows the increase in share of earners reporting self-employment earnings.

2018 150

2018 2015 Policies 150

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

The New York Time's article A Toxic Work World nicely summarizes the growing Darwinian nature of traditional jobs.   The article's author suggest a number of policy and legal changes to make it work easier and more flexible.   The article points out going independent is not easy.

Policies 100

Policies Legal Environment Stress 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 31, 2018

As the article chart below shows (click to enlarge), the 9.9% The article is not positive about this group (which the author says he's part of).   The book got a lot of play in policy circles. The 2016 median for this group was $2.4 million and the top members have net worth's in the $10 million range.

2016 145

2016 Expenses 2014 2017 145

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Wired's article  CRISPR MAKES IT CLEAR: THE US NEEDS A BIOLOGY STRATEGY , points out many of the issues associated with this technology. basically has no policy position or strategy related to genetic engineering.    We encourage everyone to listen to the Freakonomics podcast and read the Wired article. . 

Policies 150

Policies AT&T 150

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

  As the Fortune Article  The Gig Economy Isn’t Just For Startups Anymore points out: Increasingly Fortune 500 companies and global giants like Samsung are turning to online freelancing platforms like Upwork and PeoplePerHour to find designers, marketing staff, IT specialists and other knowledge workers. Three things.

2017 189

2017 2015 Policies AT&T 189

Small Business Labs

JUNE 4, 2013

The New York Times article The Affordable Care Act Could be Good for Entrepreneurship  covers a Robert Woods Johnson study that finds Obamacare will likely increase the number of self-employed by more than 11% as a direct result of the law.    Contingent Workforce Freelance Government Policy Independent workers'

Policies 100

Policies Health 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 8, 2014

  Gen Y Government Policy trends' The economic troubles of this generation are resulting in millennials being more frugal shoppers  and having lowered overall economic expectations.  Their shifting consumer patterns are impacting everything from auto sales to the housing market.

Policies 100

Policies 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 13, 2013

The Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy in Santa Monica, Calif.,   We covered this topic earlier in the year in our article Obamacare, Job Lock and Freelancers.   As we point out in our article, studies on job lock vary in terms of their view of its impact. Government Policy'

Policies 100

Policies Health AT&T UPS 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 2, 2012

The Contingent Workforce and Public Decision Making is an article in the Spring issue of Public Sector Digest.  It suggests rethinking a range of laws and policies including employment rules, zoning, K12 education and health care due to the shift to the contingent workforce. workers with new policies and approaches.

Temping 100

Temping Policies 2020 Health 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 3, 2018

Again from the paper: To the extent that these policies limit flexibility, they could end up hurting workers using flexible work as a consumption smoothing mechanism. The study also points out that well intentioned government rules, laws and programs could easily reduce the value of this type of work.

2017 182

2017 Finance Policies AT&T 182

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 12, 2012

Good article on Social Earth describing the emerging fourth sector of socially-oriented businesses.  These are firms, both for-profits and non-profits, that are driven by a social mission but employ for-profit business policies and practices.  This is clearly a growing sector and attracting more attention.

Legal 100

Legal Policies 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 1, 2014

So hot that last Sunday's lead article in the New York Times style and fashion section was about Piketty. Book Reviews Economic Uncertainty Government Policy trends' Capital in the 21st Century , by French economist Thomas Piketty, is currently the top seller on Amazon and the hottest economics book in many, many years.

Policies 100

Policies Management 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

  The book closes with policy suggestions for making independent work less precarious. The main policy suggestion is the creation of independent security accounts.   The issues raised are important, the downsides of the freelance economy real and the policy suggestions helpful. This section is quite good.

Temping 100

Temping Payroll Policies Salary 100

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 17, 2013

  Key quote from a Reuter's article on Airbnb's issues in New York: the company has run afoul of authorities in cities around the country for violating zoning laws that prohibit unlicensed rentals, as well as ducking taxes that hotels ordinarily have to pay. .   Government Policy trends'

Legal 100

Legal Agencies Restaurants Policies 100

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 22, 2015

Economy is Only Doing Half its Job  and the progressive Economic Policy Institute released their Top Charts of 2015.  Key quote from the HBR article: America is producing ample prosperity. Large    As 538 points out in their article on the study , the news is not all bad.

2015 100

2015 2014 Policies 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 25, 2013

 Noted author James Surowiecki's New Yorker article The Underground Recovery  points out: Ordinary Americans have gone underground, and, as the recovery continues to limp along, they seem to be doing it more and more.   Government Policy trends'   Others are starting to also suggest this. economy is growing.

2011 100

2011 Policies UPS 100

Small Business Labs

APRIL 11, 2013

We covered this last year in our article Workforce Participation: Where's Everyone Going?   Government Policy' The most recent BLS jobs report showed that almost 500,000 Americans left the workforce  in March, resulting in the workforce participation rate falling to 63.3%.  This is the lowest its been since 1979.

Retirement 100

Retirement Policies UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JANUARY 7, 2016

Intuit CEO Brad Smith's article How On-demand is Ushering in a New Era of Entrepreneurship  covers a very important and under appreciated benefit of the on-demand economy - it reduces the friction and risk associated with starting a business.  This stunning ease-of-entry would have been impossible five years ago. 

Finance 100

Finance Policies AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

AUGUST 20, 2014

The New York Times article Working Anything But 9 to 5 covers the impact of erratic work schedules on low income parents.   In other words, labormetrics systems are being used to turn traditional employees into on-call workers, who may or may work on a given day.

Interviewing 100

Interviewing Policies 100

Small Business Labs

OCTOBER 26, 2012

" As a Policy Mic article points out, "comic books have historically been incredibly in touch with the zeitgeist, so Kent’s resignation is indicative of something bigger present in our society."  "  Policy Mic goes on to discuss a loss of faith in media (and institutions in general).

Policies 100

Policies AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

JUNE 16, 2015

The article points out one of the major concerns on the part of small businesses is cloud security and whether or not their data will safe. Cloud companies do get hacked and small businesses need to have policies and procedures in place to manage the security of cloud applications.

Policies 100

Policies AT&T Management 100

Small Business Labs

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

The article is written by Kalin Anev Janse, secretary general of the European Stability Mechanism (the eurozone’s lender of last resort).   But this article focuses on the potential of these trends to create global strife. would have included the changing nature of work in an article like this.   Now they do.

Social Media 157

Social Media Restaurants Finance Collaborate 157

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 19, 2012

I was not surprised to hear Instagram, the photo sharing site acquired by Facebook, was changing its privacy policy. According to a CNBC article , Instagram makes it clear if you use the service they own your data. Intuit's policy is they don't own their customer's data - their customers do.

Facebook 100

Facebook Policies Learning UPS 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 29, 2012

Foreign Policy magazine has an article on the phenomenon of Chinese companies employing white Americans on a part-time basis.   According to the article, they are looking for white American males "to sit near the front of an office or to join in on meetings because it apparently adds a level of sophistication."

Policies 100

Policies International Skills AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

These positives have been highlighted in several recent articles: A new narrative: The real motivations for working in the on-demand economy , by Intuit VP Alex Chriss, highlights 5 types of people who are thriving in their on-demand economy jobs: Those who want to be their own boss. See the article for details and examples.

Restaurants 100

Restaurants Policies Stress UPS 100

Small Business Labs

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Most of it has been positive, a fair amount negative and some of it downright nasty (see the very large comment section in the article  How The On-Demand Economy is Reshaping the 40 Hour Work Week for examples).      Who knew people could get so worked up about a survey?

Policies 100

Policies UPS 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 18, 2016

As the Wall Street Journal article Revival of Universal Basic Income Proposal Ignores Needs of Labor Force points out, giving all adult Americans $10,000 a year would cost about $2.4 As FiveThirtyEight's extensive article  What Would Happen If We Just Gave People Money? The first is cost.

Budget 100

Budget Policies 100

Small Business Labs

MAY 2, 2011

  There's been a flurry of articles on this topic, including: Business Week - good overall coverage of the buses. Switchboard - looks at the buses from a public policy point of view. New Geography - detailed look from a policy and environmental standpoint.

Travel 100

Travel Policies Purchasing AT&T 100

Small Business Labs

DECEMBER 9, 2019

The New York Times article headline on the report - Uber Says 3,045 Sexual Assaults Were Reported in U.S. Key quote from the NY Times article: Sexual violence experts agreed that publishing the numbers was an important step in combating abuse across the industry. .  Last week Uber released a U.S. billion in the U.S.

2018 130

2018 2017 Travel Forms 130

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Defining Small Business Innovation 2010 Top 10 Small Business Trends Intuit Future of Small Business Resources The Changing Face of Entrepreneurs The Connected World of Entrepreneurs Disclosure Policy Emergent Research works with corporate, government and non-profit clients. Good article in Business Week on the growth of rural outscourcing. 

2010 100

2010 Retirement 2020 2005 100

Small Business Labs

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Defining Small Business Innovation 2010 Top 10 Small Business Trends Intuit Future of Small Business Resources The Changing Face of Entrepreneurs The Connected World of Entrepreneurs Disclosure Policy Emergent Research works with corporate, government and non-profit clients. and burger giant McDonald's Corp.

2010 100

2010 Retirement 2020 International 100

Small Business Labs

JULY 9, 2013

  Here's a brief round-up of a few of articles on this topic and their key quote on Obamacare and part-time employment: The Wall Street Journal's Part-Time America : One explanation is almost surely ObamaCare. Contingent Workforce Government Policy Independent workers trends'

Health 100

Health Retirement Policies UPS 100