Welcome to Mobility Minute, a newsletter published every Friday byWorldwide ERC®for the benefit of members and the global mobility and relocation industry. Here's a quick glimpse of what you'll find in this week’s issue:
Changing Players in the Mobility Industry
California Law May Increase Cost of Household Goods Shipments
Great Lakes Relocation Council Holds Annual Conference
Mobility Professional Perspectives Requested
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Changing Players in the Mobility Industry
As autumn fast approaches, now is a good time to reflect on some of the exciting changes that happened in the mobility industry over the summer. In this article, you’ll find a quick roundup of recent mergers (SIRVA and BGRS), acquisitions (Deel and LegalPad), and rebrands (Realogy to Anywhere) that have caught our attention.
Why is this important?
Although we don’t know how each of these mergers and acquisitions will play out, we do know that these moves demonstrate an increased interest in global mobility technology and businesses. Has your business made any big changes this year? Or do you have any big changes coming up in the second half of 2022? Email us your story about how your company is part of the evolving mobility industry.
California Law May Increase Cost of Household Goods Shipments
California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) has the potential to cause major problems for the trucking industry in California. Although the law was passed in 2019, it has legal pushback that delayed enforcement. This week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California lifted the injunction that challenged the enforcement of AB5.
Why is this important?
The bill makes it difficult for trucking companies to use the independent contractor business model. Businesses have been working to eliminate owner-operators from their California operations to avoid penalties. Some trucking companies have eliminated independent contractors in their California business or have encouraged California owner-operators to relocate out of state.
Great Lakes Relocation Council Holds Annual Conference
Northeast Ohio Relocation Roundtable (NEORR) hosted the Great Lakes Relocation Council (GLRC) conference on 3–5 August 2022. The theme of the three-day event was “Unlocking the Future of Relocation.” The conference covered a variety of topics from a roundtable focusing on emotional intelligence to a session about the tools organizations can use to improve relocating employees’ overall experiences.
Dale Collins, a PhD candidate at the University of Denver, is authoring his dissertation on the topic of international expatriate success, focusing on key assignment stakeholder perspectives of the assignee, home managers, host managers, and global human resources and mobility professionals. He is researching whether contrasts exist for multinational firms whose internationalization can be characterized by either “stages of growth” theory or “born-global” theory.
The project will require interviews with assignment stakeholders. Complete anonymity applies for all interviewees and companies, and confidentiality will be fully respected.
If you're interested in participating, email Dale.
If you have news about Worldwide ERC® members and our industry, send your updates to mobility@worldwideerc.org.
Global Economic Snapshot
The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage will fall to an average 4.5% in 2023, according to a recent housing forecast published by Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored lender. — CNBC
More job searchers are looking for work that pays $20 an hour, surpassing searches for $15 an hour, according to data released Monday by job search platform Indeed. It's a sign of how inflation and a labor shortage pushed up wages faster than anyone could have imagined a decade ago, when Fight for $15, a union-led push to organize fast-food workers, was founded. — Axios
Water-related natural disasters, from floods to droughts, could cause a $5.6 trillion hit to global gross domestic product (GDP) between 2022 and 2050, according to a new study from the professional services firm GHD. — Fortune
STB data says railroads cut their workforce by 45,000, or 29%, over the past six years, with pandemic furloughs pushing staffing levels past a tipping point. By late May, only 67% of trains arrived within 24 hours of their scheduled time, down from 85% pre-pandemic, according to data submitted to the STB by the four largest U.S. freight railroads. — Wired
The Department of Homeland Security is encouraging travelers who mostly fly domestically to skip Global Entry and opt for TSA PreCheck. Currently, Global Entry is experiencing long application wait times that can stretch up to six to 18 months.
TSA PreCheck or Global Entry?
If you do not travel multiple times per year internationally, DHS recommends applying for the TSA PreCheck Program. Most TSA PreCheck applicants can schedule an appointment in less than two weeks and, if approved, can receive a Known Traveler Number (KTN) in about three to five days after the appointment.
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