Labor/Workforce

This report details the current state of the North American industrial market in 2020 and its projected growth over the next couple years.

"This paper will address current progress and direction for autonomous vehicles, what this could mean for the future of transport and the possible analytical approaches to addressing these impacts."

"The advent of automated driving technology is poised to transform the trucking industry in the years and decades to come, but it is clear that autonomous trucks will not be ready to handle all driving tasks and conditions anytime soon. Instead, the developers of this technology are working to build a future where drivers and automation work hand in hand to transport freight more safely and efficiently."

The trucking industry is expected to be an early adopter of self-driving technology which could have a major impact on the truck-driving profession.

This report examines how TNCs contributed to increased roadway congestion in San Francisco between 2010 and 2016 relative to other factors such as population and employment growth, and transportation system changes.

This survey provides an inventory of daily travel in the US including demographic data on households, people, vehicles, and detailed information on daily travel by all modes of transportation and for all purposes.

IMARC Group analyzes the growing trend of online food ordering and delivery. Their report provides a macro overview of the market to micro details of the industry performance, recent trends, and key market drivers and challenges.

This article studies the relationship between gasoline consumption and urban design patterns by comparing 32 principal cities from around the world. The purpose is to evaluate physical planning policies for conserving transportation energy in urban areas.

A book about the role of creativity in the United States economy. Americans' values, relationships, choices of where to live, and sense of time are changing, becoming more similar to the way artists and scientists have lived for decades. Our values and tastes, our personal relationships, our choices of where to live, and even our sense and use of time are changing

A New York State judge dismissed a New York City rule that would limit transportation network companies' drivers could cruise without passengers. The rule was aimed at reducing congestion and approved by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. Uber and Lyft filed separate lawsuits against the rule in September of 2019.

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform the way supply chains function, especially with long distance trucking.

This podcast discusses the potential jobs lost and gained as a result of automation, as well as how existing jobs will likely evolve.

Although online shopping has created hundreds of thousands of new jobs, there has not been enough to make up for the amount of traditional retail jobs lost.

A new law in California makes it harder for companies to classify workers as contractors. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and Postmates are pushing back, refusing to comply and filing lawsuits. Workers have mixed opinions on whether they agree with the new law. Some appreciate the flexibility of working as a contractor, while others want better wages and the ability to bargain collectively.

App-based companies will be required to treat workers as employees after a new California bill was approved by legislators. The bill provides increased protections for workers, but threatens the profits of gig economy companies who count on inexpensive independent labor.

The gig economy has been growing fast in the U.S., with the nonemployer “ride and room” sharing industries making up a significant share of the growth, especially in the country’s largest metro areas.

Uber was banned from London in 2019 due to concerns about customer safety after it was discovered that the Uber app let drivers fake their identity in thousands of rides. Pressure to create more safety regulations for ride-hailing companies makes them more vulnerable to increased costs. As these companies regularly operate at a loss, new regulations could put them at higher risk for financial trouble. Regulators have been unapologetic, saying they must prioritize public safety.

Following Uber and Lyft leaving Austin, Texas, drivers and riders have taken to alternative methods to create ride-hailing services. Extents of this effort range from Facebook groups to a newly developed app, Arcade City. As of 2016, Arcade City was not registered with the city, and it lets drivers and riders determine their own level of comfortability with riding conditions.

A blog run by a long-time rideshare driver includes resources on what it's like to drive for various rideshare and delivery companies, and how to maximize profits and manage finances as a driver. The author also published a book, The Rideshare Guide: Everything You Need to Know about Driving for Uber, Lyft, and Other Companies, in 2018.

This article details requirements and qualifications for driving for Uber of Lyft. It also discusses the earning potential for each company, and compares driver satisfaction between the two companies.

Food delivery has become increasingly popular in China and is generating millions of tons of food packaging waste. Through the use of food delivery apps, ordering food online has become cheap and convenient.

According to the U.S. Census, the average American spends about 26 minutes commuting each direction to work.

Self-driving cars will be first available to robotaxi-fleet operators, not private owners. This availability restriction comes from the expensive nature of LIDAR sensors that make the sensors themselves more expensive than the rest of the vehicle. The safety and reliability of automated vehicles also impacts their ability to be privately owned, at least at first. Safe and reliable vehicle operation is easier to achieve when the vehicles operate within a geographic range that has been mapped in detail, meaning automated vehicles will mainly operate in city centers in their early stages of adoption. These considerations driving automated vehicles toward fleet ownership will have impacts on many areas of the automotive industry.

Amazon’s shipping network has been increasing rapidly over the past decade which has led to severe working conditions for their thousands of employees around the world, especially during events like “Prime Day.”

“Industrial real estate analysts say that in recent years, an increasing number of massive distribution centers have popped up in response to growing e-commerce.”

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 3,000 new establishments classified as warehouse or storage were added between 2009 and 2018.

The Teamsters labor union wrote UPS an 83 page document outlining demands to ban UPS from using drones or driverless vehicles. UPS must balance these demands with growing competition for the package delivery industry and the flexibility it requires to remain competitive.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are a near future reality and the implications of AVs on city development and urban form, while potentially widespread and dramatic, are not well understood. This report describes the first order impacts, or the broad ways that the form and function of cities are already being impacted by forces of change including⁠—but not limited to⁠—AVs and related technologies.

Today, warehouses are transforming into massive “mega-distribution centers” located in increasingly suburban areas. However, the rapid delivery expectations of E-commerce will also perpetuate the need for a network of local, smaller-scale supply points.

BikeAble can use mapping technology to model the low-stress bike route options available from any origin to any destination. Doing this for a large number of origins and destinations allows us to aggregate the results to show not just how connected one household is to key destinations, but how well connected an entire community is.

The Future of Work in Cities contrasts the realities cities face today with the ways they are planning for tomorrow, exploring the means by which cities can exploit innovative opportunities while realigning local governance priorities.

"To gauge the opinions of everyday Americans on this complex and far-reaching topic, the survey presented respondents with four different scenarios relating to automation technologies. Collectively, these scenarios speak to many of the hopes and concerns embedded in the broader debate over automation and its impact on society. The scenarios included: the development of autonomous vehicles that can operate without the aid of a human driver; a future in which robots and computers can perform many of the jobs currently done by human workers; the possibility of fully autonomous robot caregivers for older adults; and the possibility that a computer program could evaluate and select job candidates with no human involvement."

This report recommends potential research and policies that will help shape progress towards that vision. It also clarifies some opportunities and preparatory work for TransLink to consider as an operator. These are explained in the body.

This article outlines the ebb and flow of Lyft's finances and how things have played out since they went public in March.

"Our City of the Future: Technology and Mobility report is meant to help city leaders understand, imagine and plan for the coming changes in the urban environment that will affect how we all move from one place to another."

Between 1998 and 2005, employment in the U.S. warehousing industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 22.23%, and the number of establishments increased at compound annual growth rate of 9.48%. Over this same period of time, the price for transportation fuels increased dramatically and became much more volatile. In this paper we examine the microeconomic and macroeconomic forces that have enabled such rapid growth in the warehousing industry. We also analyze structural change through employment and warehouse construction starts data and show that a new breed of warehouse has emerged – the mega distribution center, or mega DC.

This article explores the rate of retail store closures, its effects on employment, and the role of economy market forces on the changes.

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has, through scenario planning, already begun to consider the effects that emerging technologies such as AVs and accelerated broadband might have on travel patterns. This report moves another step forward. It identifies and explores transportation technology trends, their potential impacts, and their policy implications, both generally and those specific to the Atlanta region. The result is intended to help support the Atlanta region in developing a regional transportation technology program to prepare for and take advantage of technology innovations in support of the region’s goals.

SAFE believes that AV-related labor displacement concerns—many of which have been expressed sensationally—must be addressed seriously rather than merely dismissed out of hand or repeated without verification. In response to these concerns, SAFE commissioned a panel of highly regarded transportation and labor economists to conduct a fact-based and rigorous assessment of the economic costs and benefits of AVs, including labor impacts.

This report compares and analyzes the "relative advantages and disadvantages of autonomous and connected large trucks relative to light-duty vehicles."

Transit bus automation could deliver many potential benefits, but transit agencies need additional research and policy guidance to make informed deployment decisions. Although funding and policy constraints may play a role, there is also a reasonable unwillingness to risk public funding or to undertake new operational models without a full understanding of the approach or without federal leadership and guidance. The purpose of this report is to define a five-year Strategic Transit Automation Research Plan that will establish a research and demonstration framework to move the transit industry forward. Key components of the Plan include conducting enabling research, identifying and resolving barriers to deployment, leveraging technologies from other sectors, demonstrating market-ready technologies, and transferring knowledge to the transit stakeholder community.

Using data from the recently released American Community Survey, this report examines population change in the 51 metropolitan areas with 1 million or more population, and focuses on the change in population in close-in neighborhoods, those places within 3 miles of the center of each metropolitan area’s primary central business district.

This article outlines the changing numbers Uber has experienced this year and the sharp declining revenue. Chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, weighs in on the changes.

This doctoral dissertation analyzes the impacts of ridesourcing on several areas of transportation including: efficiency in terms of distance Vehicles Miles Traveled (VMT) versus Passenger Miles Traveled (PMT) – and travel times, mode replacement, VMT increase, parking, transportation equity, and travel behavior.

Deaths and devastating injuries. A litany of labor violations. Drivers forced to urinate in their vans. Here is how Amazon’s gigantic, decentralized, next-day delivery network brought chaos, exploitation, and danger to communities across America.

The full story of autonomous vehicles is yet to be written. We created four scenario planning stories that explain how cities could shape the driverless future: tap taxi to tackle isolation, weaving a microtransit mesh, a human touch on robot delivery, reprogramming bus, bikes and barriers.

"This report consists of nine chapters. Chapter 2 describes the effects of technology on transportation in general, the innovative services relevant to this report, what is known about the use of these services, and their potential impacts. Chapter 3 explains the existing regulatory structure of the taxi, sedan, and limousine industries and the challenges to that existing structure presented by the rise of TNCs. Chapter 4 presents an economic framework for address- ing those challenges. Chapters 5 through 8 then review specific issues facing shared mobility services: Chapter 5 examines labor and employment issues; Chapter 6 addresses personal security for drivers and passengers and safety for the public; Chapter 7 reviews insurance issues; and Chapter 8 looks at issues of access and equity. Chapter 9 presents the overall conclusions resulting from this study and the committee’s recommendations for policy makers and regulators who must consider whether and how to regulate these new services to serve public policy goals, and outlines research needs."

This report is an analysis of 153 "state of the city" speeches by mayors between January and April of 2019. They have been analyzed to identify the 10 major issues cities are talking about and other major issues that are being prioritized across the country.

This study advances the national conversation about how to cope with the effect of AVs on workers in three ways: by setting forth a framework for discussion, presenting quantitative simulations and qualitative scenarios to help assess key impacts, and providing policy recommendations for mitigating negative impacts while also setting an agenda for research on policy.

A review of legislative debates in these states finds that action was stymied by a range of issues related to driver background checks, service to disabled persons, fair treatment of drivers, competitive impacts on the taxi industry, and whether app-enabled ride services should be regulated by state or local governments. This blueprint for TNC and taxi regulation includes recommendations on five key issues that stymied approval of TNC bills in big-state legislatures this year.

JD.com is an example of what companies may look like in the future of automation. This article talks about how their company, shipping 200,000 orders a day, operates in this new age.

Uber drivers in Europe and the U.S. are fighting for access to their personal data. Whoever wins the lawsuit could get to reframe the terms of the gig economy.

Carmaking giants and ride-sharing upstarts racing to put autonomous vehicles on the road are dead set on replacing drivers, and that includes truckers. Trucks without human hands at the wheel could be on American roads within a decade, say analysts and industry executives. At risk is one of the most common jobs in many states, and one of the last remaining careers that offer middle-class pay to those without a college degree.

A summary of retail job gain and loss through the different industries.

Like most other industries, transportation and logistics (T&L) is currently confronting immense change; and like all change, this brings both risk and opportunity. New technology, new market entrants, new customer expectations, and new business models. In this paper we discuss four key areas of disruption logistics companies need to focus on now, and explore some possible futures of the industry.

Using data from the 2010 to 2014 merged American Community Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau, this paper estimates the labor market impact of jobs likely to be lost with a rapid transition to autonomous vehicles. The report finds that certain population groups and areas of the country would be disproportionately affected. Finally, we call for policymakers to take immediate steps to offset the potential for harmful labor disruptions.

Uber Eats will now deliver food to customers in the most unexpected of places—restaurants. The food delivery and pick-up app's "Dine-in" feature is now being pilot-tested in Dallas, Austin, Phoenix and San Diego, according to an Uber spokesperson.

New York City’s cap on the number of for-hire vehicles that can operate on its streets will continue—and a new provision will, in theory, limit the amount of time FHVs can spend idling without passengers.

This article discusses the trend of corporate entities moving to downtown areas. The reasons include millennial generation, livability of downtown, industrial shift, active transportation access, etc.

A very brief introduction to the impacts that may come with autonomous cars in the future.

Low wages, lack of career paths and an overwhelming belief among the working public that fast-food jobs should only ever be temporary all contribute to the worsening turnover issues faced by quick-service restaurants. Automation is being explored as an answer.

Many big-name insurers have stopped offering any form of sexual-assault coverage to ridesharing companies because large claims they’ve paid have made it too risky, experts say.

This report aims to pull back Amazon’s cloak of invisibility, it shows how the company’s tightening grip is stifling competition, eroding jobs, and threatening communities - it presents new data; draws on interviews with dozens of manufacturers, retailers, and others; and synthesizes a broad body of previous reporting and scholarship.

The Young and Restless—25 to 34 year olds with a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education, are increasingly moving to the close-in neighborhoods of the nation’s large metropolitan areas. This migration is fueling economic growth and urban revitalization.

This article outlines the growth of the gig economy in the US and how individuals have different feelings about it and the pay versus flexibility.

"The Future of Equity in Cities seeks to take these core issues and forecast the opportunities and challenges to come in cities not just today, but in the decades to come through an analysis of long-range planning, an examination of on-the-ground programming of inclusive economic growth, and by seeking to better understand the public safety challenges that cities will face far into the future."

This report looks to the past to anticipate an uncertain future. It adopts the view of neither the techno-optimist nor the techno-pessimist about the scope and pace of change, instead taking a middle-of-the-road approach to evaluate the impacts of automation on the future of work in Oregon. Regardless of the scenario, Oregon policymakers — and their federal partners — should be preparing an expansive, flexible and focused policy response that can keep pace with rapidly changing conditions.

For decades, many of the nation’s biggest companies staked their futures far from the fraying downtowns of aging East Coast and Midwestern cities. One after another, they decamped for sprawling campuses in the suburbs and exurbs. Now, corporate America is moving in the other direction.

Alphabet’s self-driving car company Waymo has built the world’s smartest vehicles with access to the world’s best artificial intelligence, but there’s one barrier that it might have underestimated: people.

Autonomous trucking is coming faster than expected—perhaps within five years, according to panelists at the Transportation Research Board’s 96th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

This web page presents a 2016 overview of the U.S. retail industry and all relevant information, facts, research, data and trivia related to the U.S. retail industry. It provides the definition of the U.S. retail industry, the size of the U.S. retail industry, and the types of retailing and retailers that comprise the U.S. retail industry. Also provides links to the most current info, facts, research, data, and trivia about the largest U.S. retail chains.