Singapore issues $9.5 million fine to human cloud firms Uber and Grab

Human cloud, ride-sharing firms Uber and Grab were fined S$13.0 million (US$9.5 million) by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore. The fine comes after Uber’s sale of its Southeast Asian business to Grab in March.

According to the commission, the transaction led to substantial lessening...

Bad commutes may drive professionals to leave jobs: Robert Half

The drive to work may be driving some professionals to quit, suggests new research released today by Robert Half. According to the research, 23% of employees have left a job because of a bad commute.

Among workers in the 28 US cities surveyed, respondents in Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco...

Service-sector job creation strongest since May 2015, despite output growth deceleration

The rate of job creation in the service economy during September was the strongest since May 2015, according to a report by IHS Markit, a London-based provider of market analytics. Meanwhile, manufacturing jobs numbers expanded, but at the weakest pace in 13 months.

Even with the job creation, overall...

Canadian staffing index flat in August

The Canadian staffing index, which measures staffing activity in Canada, was unchanged in August on a year-over-year basis at a reading of 114.

“August marks the fifth month of flat to declining growth in the staffing index,” said Maxim Kupfer, research analyst at Staffing Industry Analysts....

Hawaii posts lowest jobless rate in August; four states hit record lows

Hawaii posted the lowest unemployment rate among all states in August at 2.1%, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Iowa was next at 2.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis, followed by North Dakota at 2.6%.

Alaska recorded the highest jobless rate among all states at 6.7% in August.

The BLS reported...

Canadian economy to grow 2% this year: The Conference Board of Canada

The Conference Board of Canada now expects the Canadian economy to grow 2.0% in 2018, up 0.2 percentage points from its previous forecast. However, it is projected to then slow to 1.8% in 2019.

Employment growth has weakened significantly. The Conference Board expects the economy to add 213,000 jobs...

People: Geometric Results, Alexander Mann, Upwork and more

Managed service provider Geometric Results Inc. named Jill Parrino as COO. For the past four years, Parrino held the role of VP of solutions and innovation. In her new role, all operations employees including client relationship management, service delivery, implementation, solutions...

Uber in talks to buy London-based Deliveroo, sources say (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg reported Uber Technologies Inc. is in early talks to buy London-based Deliveroo, a human cloud food courier firm, for several billion dollars. People familiar with the plans told Bloomberg an acquisition price is unknown, but any offer would need to be considerably above its latest valuation...

US leading index up in August; growth ‘doesn’t get much better than this’

The Conference Board’s US Leading Economic Index rose 0.4% in August from July to a reading of 111.2 (2016 = 100), following a 0.7% increase in July and a 0.5% increase in June.

“The leading indicators are consistent with a solid growth scenario in the second half of 2018 and at this stage of a maturing...

System One acquires government contractor TPGS

Pittsburgh-based staffing provider System One acquired TPGS, a solutions provider to the intelligence community, Department of Defense and US federal clients.

TPGS will maintain its brand and operate as part of GAP Solutions Inc., a System One company. The transaction closed Sept. 19; terms were not disclosed....