The role of temp work in this economy

here and it is true globally. From American public media this is Marketplace.

“In Los Angeles, I'm John Rizdall, it is Thursday today this one is the 16th of April”

good as it always is to have you along everybody. Our spin of the roulette wheel of business

economic news today has bounced past inflation and equities and supply chains and artificial intelligence and landed firmly in that slot labeled labor market. It is this labor market as you've heard here a time or two a bit confounding low higher low fire yes but also holding up remarkably well given everything and we offer some insight today into how and why the most recent beige book the Federal Reserve's periodic update on economic conditions on the ground for

businesses around the country. It contains the word uncertainty 59 times the war in the Middle East obviously being the most approximate cause and weighing on long term decisions like oh hiring new workers

“and perhaps related several regions in this economy have seen an uptick in the hiring of temporary”

and contract workers. Marketplace is making McCarty Carino gets his going. A lot of companies

had just been finding their footing after the last shock of tariffs says Holy Wade at the National Federation of Independent Business that initial panic and stress last year was more moderated as time went on and they were able to figure out how this was all impacting them and then came the war with Iran rising energy costs and questions about how consumers will respond. So they're holding on to their dollars not investing as much in their business and if I be most recent survey of small

business owners found they're pulling back on capital spending plans it rates not seen since the great recession. Aaron Terrasis is an economist with HR platform gusto. They're not necessarily willing to make a full-time commitment to higher employee but they sense that their customers want something from them. That's often when employers look for temporary help says no ayosev chief economist at the American Staffing Association. What we're seeing is that staffing services is being

looked too as a way not only to test the labor market but also to backfill open rules that require a person at that moment. Federal data showed 10 staffing jobs have been inching up in the last six months after falling dramatically over the previous four years. Joseph says historically these jobs have been a leading indicator for the broader labor market falling at the beginning of downturns and rising as hiring conditions begin to improve. Staffing employment offers that sweet spot

before employers start to feel confident again about making those large-scale investments in headcount. But whether companies will follow the usual pattern this time is especially unclear

“says David Weil, a professor of labor studies at Brandice University. I think there is also an aspect”

with AI becoming so much more of a factor in how businesses are deciding how to allocate work. The beige book report found AI had not yet significantly affected staffing levels, though some businesses reported productivity gains had enabled them to delay or reduce staffing. I'm making McCarty Carino for Marketplace. The uncertainty about weather temp work is temporary or here to stay is being felt by no group more acutely than people who are looking for jobs.

Marketplace is a carl to get some insight. When Eliana Goldstein first started coaching mid-career

in senior professionals navigating job transitions in 2019, she says they weren't rushing. They were intentional, strategic and felt like they could take risks. Now we're definitely finding more people who don't as much have the luxury of time and are feeling like either they're unemployed or recently laid off or they're worried about the stability of their own company and really trying to future plan and figure out what's next.

Temporary and contract work, she tells them "Good be a bridge to future opportunities." Though these days she says it feels like less of a guarantee that a contract will turn into a full-time role. Career and leadership coach Phoebe Gavin says there are other perks job seekers can get out of these gigs though even if they're not permanent. Obviously the biggest benefit is that it brings an income and if you are between opportunities and you either weren't

awarded or outside of your severance period, you just need to pay the bills. Temp gig scaven

experience where you have driven results, where your skills are still sharp, especially important

for candidates who have been looking for a while now. For all the potential perks Andrew Stetner at the National Employment Law Project says workers still need to protect themselves in this tight labor market. He says temp workers need written contracts and freelancers must make sure to pay

“the appropriate taxes. Important advice because Stetner says this kind of work may become more”

common. We have seen the qualification of the economy going to further and further and more sectors, you know, and it's one that is growing. Not taking over the economy he says, but still growing. I'm Carla Havier from Marketplace. Wall Street on this Thursday, if you bought all birds yesterday, the shoot company that's pivoting to artificial intelligence and saw a 582% bump in its share price,

first of all, why? Second of all, shares down 36% today. I still don't get that spike.

More to the point though, you know what happens when the major indices go up after hitting a record high, right? Yeah, I know you do. We will have the details when we do the numbers.

“There are times in the news cycle especially a news cycle like this one. When it's really good”

to back very slowly away from the headlines and get a little ground truth from some of the people actually living and working and trying to get by in this economy. For us today, that person is Brian Duncan. He grows hogs and soybeans on his farm in Illinois. Mr. Duncan, good to have you back on the program, sir. Well, thanks for having me back. Hi, good to talk to you. I will give you the the easy

question first as I usually do. How are things on the farm? Well, right now I'd say the only things

certain is uncertainty. We're we're watching markets, some disruption, but the livestock complex is showing some profitability, which is a nice change of pace. And so I'd say it's a mixed back, but we're upright and able to take nourishment. So that's a good thing. There you go, I hear that. Let me ask you a couple of very specific sort of infrastructure kinds of things. Livestock complex you said is doing okay. I do wonder though about getting your product to market

transportation fuel costs all of those things. Are they biting you? Well, now the ripple effect is certainly going to be followed. I mean, when you see diesel, go up a dollar a gallon. That's obviously going to affect the cost of transportation. Not only my products to market, but distributed through the throughout the food chain. And I worry about then the ultimate impact that I'll have on the consumer's pocketbook. And you know, how they'll shop where they'll reach at the

protein counter. You know, I don't often turn an interview this way. When I'm talking to farmers and folks who actually make stuff in this economy, but you are a consumer too. What are you doing when you go to the store? We're fortunate. We harvest some of our own animals. So that helps. But actually today I was at the store looking for cheaper cuts of a meat. And I'm biased, but pork is a huge bargain right now. Fortunately, our kids are raised and grown, so it's my wife and I.

And our consumables aren't what they once were when we were a large family. Yeah, I hear that. Okay, back to specifics. Last time we talked, which was a year-ish ago or so, maybe just a little short of a year. You started then the way you started today about uncertainty. And I guess I wonder what a year-of-trade policy uncertainty does to a guy? Makes it hard to plan long term. And as we saw the Supreme Court strike down the tariffs, it makes us wonder where we go from here,

“the USTR ambassador, Jamison Greer. Spoke, I believe, was a week ago and said trade was”

now going to be viewed through the lens of a national security strategy. I don't know what that means. I really don't. And is that fungible? Does that change from one day to the next? I'm just not sure where we go from there. Do you feel that the folks making trade policy are listening to you? I mean, we should say you're not part of the Farm Bureau anymore. You're not leading that Farm Bureau,

phone if you wanted to. And you give me way more credit. I'm a hog farmer from a local county. I am a

“member of the Farm Bureau still. You know, I think you've got competing visions. And again,”

this whole idea of national security strategy, obviously we want to secure country. But how that's tied to trade and what that looks like day after day. I'm not sure, but yeah, it's a frustrating time. I think as we look at trade, we've got a, we get need to focus on what we can do domestically. You know, farmers get, especially lately with the challenges you all have been having in light of the president's trade policies. And then again, in his first term, you guys get a lot of

press relatively speaking. But do you get a lot of love if that makes any sense? You know, well, I guess it depends. You're on your perspective. I mean, there has been some emergency funding that's gone out. And that's appreciated by agriculture. But Kai, I think I told you this every time we talk,

“we would much rather get our dollars from the marketplace and from the mailbox. You don't thrive”

from one emergency bailout to the next. You thrive by building markets and then growing those markets and expanding them. And I'm just not sure if that is completely understood at this point in time. You heard him say it. He is, as of now, a simple hog and soybean farmer in Illinois.

Mr. Duncan, thanks for your time. So I really appreciate it. Kai, it's always great to talk to you. Thank you.

It has been by my count six weeks and five days since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran. It has been six weeks and three days that the state of Hormuz has been closed, still closed just for the record. And as of today, the head of the International Energy Agency told the Associated Press today, Europe has maybe six weeks or so. That's a quote of jet fuel left.

“You know, sometimes six weeks seems like forever. And sometimes six weeks is the relative”

blink of an eye. And with no clear indication that the state's going to open any time soon, what time frame for jet fuel do you think we're talking about? Marketplace Samantha Field is on that story. Before Charles Duncan flew to London from Boston for a business trip this week, he wanted to be sure he'd be able to get home. As this trip came together, I was monitoring this situation not wanting to get stuck. Fortunately, we're not there yet, but it is a concern.

Duncan is a partner with the investment firm altitude X aviation group and has been an airline executive for 30 years. Over my career, I have been involved several times with an individual, localized fuel supply shortage. You know, so a pipeline can break, fuel tanks can be contaminated.

But he's never seen anything like the situation we're in right now where there's a very real

growing possibility of global jet fuel shortages. This is something industry has never really had to deal with before, certainly in our lifetimes. Europe is most dependent on jet fuel imports from the Middle East and Samuel Engel at Boston University's Questroom School of Business says the IEA is right to be warning about the risk of shortages. Europe imports a third of its jet fuel of which 75% is coming from the Middle East. It takes weeks for fuel to get from the Middle

East to Europe and the last shipment that made it through the straight-of-war moves arrived last week. This doesn't mean that planes are going to stop flying on June 1st. But it could mean airlines start canceling more flights and that ticket prices could rise even more. Leonard Barbery, aviation editor for the daily newspaper Cordillera de la Seda in Milan, says Italians are getting worried. We have a bunch of people writing emails and asking us

at the newspaper, hey, do you have any visibility on our flights or July on the August because we

have already booked the flights? And he says the answer is not really. What the sources tell us in Italy

and also in Europe is that we have like jet fuel for May for sure, but after May we have no idea. Europe has been buying more jet fuel than usual from the US but it's not enough to make up for what it's losing from the Middle East. I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace. Coming up. Whenever I need to fix something, if I want to fasten them very quick, I just go here.

Down industrial is up 115 today. That's in points. The percentage is a quarter of 1% 48,578. That has that added to 86.4x10x24,10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10x10 That has that added to 86.410%, 24,1010,1010,1010,102, yes and p5500 picked up 18 points also a quarter percent, ended things at 7,0401. We're talking pigs and soybeans. Brian Duncan just admitted it to go. Smithfield Foods, the biggest port producer in the world, fattened up 2 and 2,10% on the day Tyson put on 1%. PepsiCo reported to jump in first quarter revenue this morning. Snack and beverage makers have been cutting prices and leaning towards certain health trends like adding fiber and protein to things like that.

“Like Doritos and popcorn? Sure, healthy. PepsiCo, I'm 2.3% today. Bond down, you'll down the 10,020, the 4.31% you're listening to marketplace.”

This is Marketplace. We have been telling stories from Vietnam this week for a series of the age of work. Today two stories about an economy at an inflection point. First.

Is it residential area? Yes. I think because the city is sprawling everywhere. Neil Richardson and I, along with our fixer Andy, we're on a street in a Ho Chi Minh city, a busy street in a crowded neighborhood with tons of apartment buildings and a sprawling electronics market. You have a mix of electric electronic products and then also electronic service, like they are fixing things. Literally fixing electronics in the street as motorbikes was by with stalls and vendors everywhere. You have like vendor who sell speaker and then vendor who's fix on the street. Let's just enjoy the speakers as we walk by.

“These speakers work just fine. We just passed a television remote stand, which clearly that's what they do.”

Yes. There was a guy who had power cords for electronic devices. That was his thing.

Whenever I need to fix something, if I wanted fast and then very quick I just go here. I don't think you could find that if you went to a store in the US, like all the different cables. Thank you very much. Great radio shack we hardly knew you. Exactly. Exactly. We stopped at a booth on the corner. One guy seated at his workbench, cords and cables everywhere. Spare parts and dozen or so rules of thin copper wire.

What's he doing now? What is this?

Well, I'm going to go there. I'm going to go there. So he is replacing speaker from Japan and he is just replacing it. $10 an hour flat rate speakers and batteries are especially have been for 32 years. How's business? It's going on like normal. He noticed the change like because he has been 32 years in the city change. They built new residents of building and then people move away. He is comfortable with his walk here.

“It is what he is working on. Does he see it changing as the economy changes?”

He noticed the change in the origin of this brother. Like back then, there was more from China. But now it's more from America and then Japan. And is that because his clients have changed or the products have changed? It's the product that changed because the products from Japan and America, the quality is also better. It's just like the electronic. If you don't use them, they would still break anyway, so it's better to use. And then you have guys like him to fix it.

Can't really argue with that. That was stop number one. Today is slice of the global economy on a street corner in Vietnam with a guy fix and beat up old speakers. Stop number two is only four and a half miles away, but it is totally different. Where's it rolling now? There are parks and cafes and a lot of big shining glass office buildings.

Good to see you. I'm Kai. How are you? Nice to meet you.

“Tanfam is the founder and CEO of Saigon Technology.”

We have no Sioux. Gotcha. We'll take off our shoes. There we go. All right, shoes off, everybody. It was mid afternoon when we got there. It's a huge room, rows and rows of low-rise cubicles. 50 or so people plugging away on their laptops.

On said, he's got 400 software engineers overall in Vietnam, more overseas. And on a map on the wall of his corner office, Pins showing where his customers are. As you can see, it has the alkystema from Oliver Wu, with maturity in the USA, Australia and European countries. Some recognizable names, too. Have laboratories in Panasonic?

So what, who is your typical client?

The alkystema mainly working in FinTech, banking, financial service, and healthcare sector. Saigon Technology makes software for other companies. And app for a plumbing company to track hours of work, to take it in platform for advanced company. You tend to turn Saigon Technology into a global IT firm

that can contribute to the business worldwide. We try to extend our business globally. That's not all the caveat now. Thing is, the global technology industry is already in Vietnam. Google and Apple and Amazon all have offices in Ho Chi Minh City, and more are coming,

“because that's what the Vietnamese government wants.”

They're using tax incentives and subsidies for high tech enterprises and workforce training programs to do it,

because the workers we have been talking about. They are what companies want. How do you, especially for the Vietnamese market, for this office? How do you get them to come to this office as opposed to other places? We pay a good salary, we pay a good paper for them.

So when they come to earth for the interview, we ask them to clear your next goal, to make sure that we can set the right sectors in for them. And then we help them to be a career path. So you started this company after having worked in some other technology companies? Yes.

So there's a room full of ambitious people out there.

“Do you worry about you training them and eventually one day they're going to start a company that's going to be your competition?”

I think actually that could be a good sign that we are doing a great job in building and just leadership culture. That means the demand in the markets increase significantly. And you're right with that. I'm right with that. I cannot compete with my employee, how can I compete with all the foreign.

Good point. We heard that from every business owner we talk to. They're investing in local talent, because it'll be good for the economy. Even or especially if those workers wind up starting companies of their own. And those workers, they know it.

We bring our products that we bring our products to the world. Yeah. We have to be able to make the beautiful product for you guys. So please come to Ignab and we make things for you. That's Ms. Hong.

She's one of the mobile developers working in that big room at Saigon technology. And truth be told, what she just said could sum up this whole series. It's the advantage we were talking about on Monday. Vietnam's workforce is a lot cheaper and a lot younger than the American workforce right now. And that is why they are making all the things for us.

Our last story from Ho Chi Minh City comes tomorrow at American company setting up shop in Vietnam. This final note on the way out today. We don't usually do a whole lot of personnel moves on this program. But this one does seem worth a mention. Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings said today.

He's going to step down from the company's board of directors in June. Getting CDs in the mail? See him all month's. Quaint now. Doesn't it?

Little remembered, fact by the way, 25 or so years ago. Hastings went to blockbuster.

No takers.

“Market cap today for Netflix, by the way.”

About $455 billion. American.

Our daily production team includes the Liberdette and a Corbin.

Maria Hallenhorst. Sarah Leeson. Sean McHenry. Michaela Sam. And Sophia Terendiow.

“Will story is the supervising senior producer.”

And I'm Kai Rizdahl.

We will stay tomorrow, everybody.

This is APM. Being in debt can bring up a lot of shame. But what if it doesn't have to?

“I'm Amy McHenrys and this week on my podcast, This is Uncomfortable.”

I'm talking with Best Friends, Jamie Feldman and Rachel Webster.

They're the host of the podcast, Dead Heds. And they tell me about what happened when they decided to face their debt and the shame around it. Together. Having that partnership has been really wonderful. And it's allowed both of us to transform for the better.

Just looking at the shadows in your life, the things that scare you the most are. It can be the most empowered thing that you go through. Be sure to listen to this is Uncomfortable wherever you get your podcasts.