Hard times: Rigzone’s latest global hiring survey confirms what you already knew: It’s a tough time to get a job in the oil and gas industry. As FuelFix.com reports, a little more than half of the global oil and gas hiring managers say they have “decreased their hiring efforts in the past three months.” Another 13% say they’ve frozen recruitment altogether. The Rigzone survey also shows 54% of global hiring managers say job cuts are more likely in the next six months; 65% expect to have less money in 2016 for “approved headcount.” At the same time, 81% say that the candidate pool has grown in the last three months. Read the full story.
One thing leads to another: Investors in hospital stocks rejoiced today following the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold a key portion of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which eliminated the prospect of a sudden influx of uninsured patients seeking care. The Associated Press reports shares of big hospital operators like HCA Holdings Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. surged after the court announced a decision that maintained in several states tax credits that play a key role in helping millions of Americans pay for health insurance. Health insurance stocks also climbed, to a lesser degree, after the ruling gave some clarity to a small but growing part of their business. Read the full story.
Flag battle: A growing backlash in Southern states against flying the Confederate battle flag spread to the U.S. Congress today when Democratic lawmakers aimed to remove the banner from parts of the Capitol, but it quickly ran into opposition in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Reuters reports Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi sought House approval of a resolution requiring the removal of state flags containing any portion of the Civil-War era Confederate battle flag from the House side of the U.S. Capitol. But Republicans, who control the House, repelled the move. The chamber in a mostly partisan 240-184 vote sent the legislation to a committee to mull. Read the full story.
