Latest developments: LSU scientists will lead a panel discussion on how the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill has affected coastal ecosystems during the 2017 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference, which takes place next week in New Orleans. Hundreds of oil-spill related experts in public and private industry and organizations will attend the four-day conference from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9. They will share the latest oil spill and ecosystem scientific discoveries, innovations, technologies and policies. The LSU scientists will present research on marsh erosion, stability, microbes and vegetation, as well as how animals and ecological communities have responded to the implications of the oil spill. Get more information.
At work: U.S. employers stepped up hiring last month, adding a healthy 227,000 jobs, and more Americans began looking for work, a sign that President Donald Trump has inherited a robust job market. The Associated Press reports U.S. Labor Department figures released today show that January’s job gain was the best since September, and it exceeded last year’s average monthly gain of 187,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.8% from 4.7% in December. But the rate rose for an encouraging reason: More Americans started looking for work, though not all of them found jobs immediately. The proportion of adults who are either working or looking for work reached its highest point since September. Read more.
Market share: The rise of “superstar” companies that dominate their market sectors and don’t need a lot of workers to generate profits may be to blame for U.S. workers getting a shrinking share of American economic wealth, a new study says. Bloomberg reports a new paper by MIT, Harvard University and the University of Zurich economists concludes that the aggregate share of labor falls as the weight of superstar firms—those with superior products or high productivity—in the economy grows. The paper doesn’t name the superstars, but notes that “firms may attain large market shares with a relatively small workforce, as illustrated by Facebook and Google.” While the firms and their employees make out well financially, the problem is the companies don’t have that many workers who can benefit from their success. Read more.
