BusinessSticking with remote work? Businesses are betting on it
Ann Saphir
3 minute read
A man works in his kitchen while workers are forced to work from home and demand payback for extra home office costs during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sassenheim, Netherlands October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Eva Plevier
U.S. businesses have been spending more on technology than on bricks and mortar for more than a decade now, but the trend has accelerated during the pandemic, one more sign that working from home is here to stay.
As spending on home-building has risen, spending on nonresidential construction has dropped, with that on commercial, manufacturing and office space slumping to under 15% of total construction outlays in March, Commerce Department data showed Monday.
Furniture World News
MONTHLY RESULTS
New Orders
According to our latest survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors, February 2021 new orders were 34% higher than February 2020 orders continuing the string of strong double-digit growth in new orders, now up 9 months in a row. January’s new orders were up 27%. New orders were up for 94% of the participants.
For the first two months of the year, new orders were up 31% over the same two months of 2020. Year to date, new orders were up for 88% of the participants. We are not sure what we will see for the next two months as March 2020 was when we first saw the drop off of business due to the onset of the pandemic. So, the next few months will likely show some drastic variations, which will take a while for the numbers to get sorted out.
Stimulus check latest: Will you get a 4th relief payment?
Published: May 2, 2021 8:22 PM EDT
Updated: May 3, 2021 6:18 AM EDT
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A possible fourth stimulus check remains a popular topic with the third round of economic relief payments almost concluded.
About 161 million payments of up to $1,400 per person have been issued since the third stimulus package passed in mid-March. Paper checks and EIP cards continue to show up in mailboxes. And plus-up payments, for those who didn’t receive what they were due, have also been going out for weeks. Together they add up to most of the $422 billion allotted in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.
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The report was issued today by Timothy R. Fiore, CPSM, C.P.M., Chair of the Institute for Supply Management
® (ISM The April Manufacturing PMI
® registered 60.7 percent, a decrease of 4 percentage points from the March reading of 64.7 percent. This figure indicates expansion in the overall economy for the 11th month in a row after contraction in April 2020. The New Orders Index registered 64.3 percent, declining 3.7 percentage points from the March reading of 68 percent. The Production Index registered 62.5 percent, a decrease of 5.6 percentage points compared to the March reading of 68.1 percent. The Backlog of Orders Index registered 68.2 percent, 0.7 percentage point higher compared to the March reading of 67.5 percent. The Employment Index registered 55.1 percent, 4.5 percentage points lower than the March reading of 59.6 percent. The Supplier Deliveries Index registered 75 percent, down 1.6 percentage points from the March figure of 76.6 percent. The Inventories I
America is getting ready for its post pandemic glow-up May 03, 2021, 11:10 AM
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America is reopening, and coming out of its pandemic shell could mean an economic boom. It s a glow-up.
They re already spending on outdoor activities, transit, restaurants, clothes, and beauty.
But America will also look different, and spending in other areas is weak. We don t know what will emerge.
America is getting ready for its post-pandemic glow-up.
Peak sweat pants have passed and high heels are hot again, in the ultimate symbol of an economy ready to let loose.
Americans are booking beauty services, buying going-out clothes again, and readying for a hot vax summer as they emerge from lockdown looking and feeling different than they entered, helping the economy roar back to life in the process.