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:
Mortgages Increase to 7%
Supply Chain Forecasted to “Normalize”
Video: How Public Policy Continues to Drive Corporate Immigration Practices
Worldwide ERC Guests on “The View from the Top”
Worldwide ERC Welcomes New Team Members
Corporate Relocation Council of Chicago and Wisconsin Employee Relocation Council
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The Game Is Almost On:GWS2022 starts next week! Learn more.
Mortgages Increase to 7%
Mortgage rates have been rising to some of the highest levels in the past 20 years, partly due to the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow down the economy and reduce inflation. Mortgage application volume fell 3.7% in July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index, owing to a drop in home prices and increasing uncertainty in the housing market.
Why is this important?
Employees who are considering a relocation must now consider if they can afford to change their living arrangements. Rent is expensive and has been on the rise for years. The national median rent price in 2020 was 149% higher than it was in 1985, while overall median income grew just 35%, according to an analysis of publicly available data by Realestatewitch.com.
In the world of supply chain management, which has been thrown into chaos over the past two years, the forecast for 2023 is gradually becoming more positive. According to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index, “September’s future predictions hint at normalization and a return to business as usual over the next year.”
Why is this important?
The improvement in container ship congestion means that shipments of household goods may arrive on schedule with little to no delays. A continued decrease in ocean freight demand will also lead to more normalized pricing for shippers. Although there is a light at the end of the tunnel, organizations should not expect a return to pre-pandemic conditions anytime soon. The shipping industry is still waiting for a rebound in consumer spending that would spur shipments and sailings back to 2019 levels.
Video: How Public Policy Continues to Drive Corporate Immigration Practices
Worldwide ERC® CEO and President Lynn Shotwell recently sat down with Austin Fragomen Jr., partner and executive committee chairman at Fragomen, for a One Take conversation about the developments in business immigration policy driving corporate relocation and migration today.
Worldwide ERC® CEO and President Lynn Shotwell and others on the Worldwide ERC team joined Brian Friedman, strategy director for Benivo, for last Wednesday’s “The View from the Top” LinkedIn show to discuss everything from sustainability in global mobility and inflation to what you need to know about next week’s GWS conference at the Wynn Las Vegas.
This year’s GWS theme will be “Game On,” and Eric Boles of The Game Changers Inc. will be giving the opening keynote to help prepare attendees on navigating uncharted waters. “The field has changed; the roles have changed. We need to all make sure that our players are in condition,” Shotwell said.
Join us in welcoming three new members of the Worldwide ERC® team:
Deisy Garcia, GMS, has joined us as the corporate mobility liaison. In this role, Deisy will be responsible for supporting corporate workforce mobility professionals. Prior to joining Worldwide ERC, Deisy worked extensively as a corporate mobility and human resources professional, most recently leading the global mobility function for a Fortune 50 international retail company.
In addition, Worldwide ERC has expanded its sales team to better support our sponsors, exhibitors, and thought leadership partners. Tom Myers will serve as our vice president of sales, and Sky Wang will serve as our director of sales.
Corporate Relocation Council of Chicago and Wisconsin Employee Relocation Council Hold Joint Conference
On 8 September, the Corporate Relocation Council of Chicago and the Wisconsin Employee Relocation Council held a joint conference in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois. The keynote session, “Wellness & Mental Health in Relocation,” was given by Elize Greene, a wellness and stress professional local to Milwaukee, and focused on working in an industry full of pressures, external and internal. She dived into the topic of stress and how our brains depend on instinct rather than rational thought because the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking is busy dealing with the psychological reaction to stress.
Thousands of highly skilled immigrants who in previous years would easily have qualified for permanent residence in Canada are being forced to return to their home countries as their work permits expire—the result of a backlog created by federal policy decisions intended to boost immigration during the pandemic. — The Globe and Mail
The lack of qualified labor—brought on by an aging population and exacerbated by the pandemic—is starving German manufacturers of the staff they need to keep pace with demand. Recent surveys found a record 50% of firms are cutting output due to staffing problems, and it’s costing the economy as much as $85 billion per year. — Bloomberg
Sellers, who have driven the market since the pandemic’s onset in 2020, are waking up to the fresh reality. Fewer properties are receiving multiple offers, and more sellers are cutting their initial listing price. Austin was one such seller’s market. Zillow’s data shows that year-over-year growth in Austin’s home values peaked in January at 47%, before falling to 7% in August. — Financial Times
Economies representing more than a third of global output will contract next year, while the world’s three largest economies—the U.S., the European Union, and China—will essentially stall, the IMF forecasts. Overall, the fund projects 2.7% growth in 2023, down from 3.2% this year. — The Wall Street Journal
This year’s “Travel & Tourism Economic Impact” report—an annual publication by the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council—shows that, compared with pre-pandemic levels, tourism revenue in 2020 dropped more in Asia-Pacific (59%) than anywhere else.
Asia-Pacific’s travel industry could be the first to recover by 2023
The report shows Asia-Pacific is expected to close the gap this year, with the amount of travel revenue contributing to the overall economy forecast to grow by 71%. Travel in Asia-Pacific is soaring this year—restrictions were first eased in India and Australia, then Malaysia and Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, followed most recently by Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan in the north.
Worldwide ERC®, P.O. Box 41990, Arlington, VA 22204, United States, 1-703-842-3400
