• Houston, Dallas, Miami, and Nashville are poised to become economic powerhouses in the US. 
• Americans and businesses are flocking to these places, often leaving coastal cities behind.
• The future of the energy, healthcare, and finance industries could be in these cities.

The future of the US economy could be powered by cities in the Sunbelt.

Economic and societal power in the US may be shifting away from colossal coastal cities such as New York and San Francisco to metropolitan areas tucked below the Mason-Dixon line, as Barron’s recently reported. That’s because economic power is flowing to the middle of the country — and places such as Houston, Dallas, Nashville, and Miami are becoming hot spots.

Just as New York City has Wall Street and San Francisco has Silicon Valley, Houston has its energy economy and Miami has its proximity to Latin America and growing financial industry. And while Los Angeles has Hollywood and Washington, DC, has politics, Dallas has a blossoming environment of diversified business behemoths and Nashville is a healthcare and tech hub.

“You used to have two coastal power zones where you could live your best life, never really touching down in the red states,” Niall Ferguson, a Stanford historian, told Barron’s. “We now have much more of a multipolar America rather than a bipolar America. That reflects taxes, quality of life, cost of living, the ability to build, and incredibly striking differentials in quality of governance.”

A March Redfin analysis of its user search data indicated San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, were the top four cities Americans were looking to relocate from. Miami, meanwhile, was the city users appeared to be most interested in relocating to — Dallas and Houston ranked eighth and 10th, respectively. Lower taxes and housing costs seem to be among the top factors motivating movers.

Here’s why these four cities could be central to America’s economic future.

Houston

Houston could capitalize on the US’s shift toward renewable energy. Duy Do/Getty Images

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the US and the home to 26 Fortune 500 companies, trailing only New York City and Chicago.

Major energy companies such as ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, and ConocoPhillips call the city home, and, as a result, as much as 40% of Houston’s economy is tied directly or indirectly to oil and gas.

But renewable energy could provide economic opportunities if the city is open to the transition. Time reported on data from McKinsey that suggested by 2040, Houston could receive $250 billion in annual investments tied to the emerging energy industry because of its existing infrastructure and skilled workforce.

Home to NASA, Houston is also poised to be the center of the space industry.

Dallas

Companies are moving to Dallas in part because the city is full of young workers. joe daniel price/Getty Images

From 2021 to 2022, Dallas experienced the largest numerical population increase of any US metro area, with a net increase of over 170,000 people, according to the Census Bureau.

Since 2010, more than 175 companies have moved their headquarters to the North Texas area that includes Dallas. And other business behemoths are expanding to the city. Goldman Sachs, for example, has said it plans to add about 5,000 jobs in Dallas once its new regional office is completed.

Steve Hagerman, the chief technology officer at Wells Fargo, previously told Business Insider during a time when some companies were struggling to find workers that Dallas was offering a growing cohort of “prime working age” individuals who were between the ages of 23 and 38. The city also offers many graduates with tech degrees, which could position it to grow as a tech hub.

Miami

Miami’s proximity to Latin America could help its economy in the years to come. Nisian Hughes/Getty Images

Miami’s population increased by 1.7% from 2021 to 2022, the fourth-fastest rate among the 50 largest US cities. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, even said he was moving there after 29 years in Seattle.

While the city’s crypto boom hasn’t gone according to plan, other companies in the finance industry have flocked to the city as well, including the hedge funds Elliot Management and Citadel.

Given its proximity to Latin America, Miami also is home to the headquarters of more than 1,100 multinational corporations. In the years ahead, strong immigration levels to the city could continue to boost its workforce and economic growth.

Miami is also a popular destination for tourists and the wealthy. A report from the consulting firm Henley and Partners said that from 2012 to 2022, the number of Miami millionaires grew by 75%, one of the fastest rates in the country.

Nashville

Nashville’s healthcare industry has created thousands of jobs for residents. Dan Reynolds Photography/Getty Images

Nashville was ranked as the top city in the US for job opportunities and earnings potential in an analysis by the HR firm Checkr released earlier this year. In May, the Milken Institute’s rankings of the nation’s best-performing cities — based on labor-market performance and economic opportunities — put Nashville at number four.

“While Nashville is a well-known and popular tourist destination, its economy is bolstered by more than just the music and hospitality industries,” the report said.

The city, which has been named the healthcare capital of the US, is home to more than 500 companies in the industry, including 17 public healthcare companies. The industry accounts for roughly 570,000 jobs in the Nashville area.

Nashville also has the potential to grow its tech industry. Amazon and Oracle are among the firms that have invested in the city in recent years.

Entering the limelight could have its challenges.

Growing populations in cities can contribute to rising housing costs. David Sucsy/Getty Images

Despite the economic gains, the advancements of these cities will probably come with some obstacles.

To varying degrees, these cities are already getting a glimpse of how high housing costs can plague an area with surging demand.

What’s more, these southern metros and their high temperatures could also face future challenges tied to the climate crisis. Miami, in particular, could be vulnerable.

Meanwhile, it could be a battle over bragging rights in the years to come between the coastal cities and Sunbelt metros as to which offers the most economic power.

Have you moved to Houston, Dallas, Miami, or Nashville over the past few years and are willing to share why you relocated? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@insider.com.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge Essayons on Oct. 4, 2023. The vessel helps maintain the navigation channel on the Columbia River Bar.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

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Simply getting aboard the Essayons is a hairy proposition this time of year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge ship stretches the length of a football field and surges through the surf. To reach it, a motor launch pulls alongside, matching the Essayons’ speed, and two enormous hooks are attached. Then the whole launch — passengers included — is hoisted up and out of the water.

“In the unlikely event someone falls into the water, if you see it, you shout: ‘Man overboard!’ and point,” the safety instructions flash back to mind.

Ocean-going transportation is key to Oregon’s economy. For bulk products like wheat and cars, there is no more efficient way to get goods to market. Last year, $22 billion worth of cargo was shipped through Pacific Northwest waterways.

But sand silts up many rivers, including the Columbia, making them dangerous to navigate. That’s where the Essayons comes in, dredging up sand to maintain a 43-foot-deep navigation channel. During this time of the year, it’s working along the Columbia River Bar, a treacherous stretch at the mouth of the river known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific.”

Steven VanHorn sits at the dredge arm control unit on the bridge of the Essayons, Oct. 4, 2023.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

Some 2,000 vessels have met their demise here, where the river meets the ocean.

The problem is the mixture of bad weather, complex ocean currents, large volumes of water flowing out the Columbia River and massive Pacific Ocean waves that have been building momentum for 3,000 miles.

“It gets dangerous, especially when the tide gets low,” said Steven VanHorn, a second mate on the Essayons.

Massive dredge arms are lowered over each side of the ship. They drag along the bottom, sucking up sand to clear the navigation channel.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

From the bridge, seven stories above the water, he’s surrounded by maps, compasses and computers. It’s his job to control two enormous dredge arms that hang over the sides of the ship.

The arms drag along the ocean floor, sucking up sand like two enormous vacuum cleaners. They empty into cavernous holds on the vessel causing the whole ship to gradually — and rather ominously — sink toward the waterline as it fills.

Capt. James Holcroft oversees the hold of the Essayons filling up with dredged sand and seawater.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

The Essayons heads to the Columbia Bar during the fall because the weather is comparatively calm, and the crew is less likely to disturb migrating salmon as they work.

But right about now, the winter storms start rolling in.

“One of the main rules of dredging is you always have to be making headway,” VanHorn said. “If you go backwards, you could break a drag arm. And when those swells get big enough, sometimes you go up a swell and come back down the other side. That will make you slide backwards.”

When that happens at full power, it’s time to pack up for the year.

Related: The dangerous life of a Columbia River Bar pilot

Some of the wrecks that speckle this area have long since been taken out of the 600-foot-wide navigation channel, so that’s no longer a problem for the dredge arms. But like vacuum hoses at home, they can get blocked. Around the bar, it’s usually just with large pieces of wood or rocks.

“But when we were digging in Pearl Harbor we would get some ammunition and unexploded ordnance from World War II,” VanHorn said.

Old weapons aren’t an issue along the Columbia Bar, so VanHorn spends his days in front of a bank of computers, guiding the dredge arms to high spots along the channel. Red warning dots on his screen turn green as the sand is sucked up.

A screen on the bridge of the Essayons dredge shows the depth of the navigation channel at certain points.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

“It’s basically like a little video game,” VanHorn said, laughing. “It’s not as easy as PacMan though!”

Over his shoulder, Capt. James Holcroft watched, sipping an enormous cup of coffee. He’s been top dog at the 350-foot Essayons for 20 years and likens the job to being mayor of a small town.

“It’s basically a small floating city,” Holcroft said. “We have our own hospital. We have our own fire department. We have our own security force. I have my own electricians. [We] generate our own power. We have our own environmental system for sewage treatment and water treatment. Everything a small town would have, we have it here.”

Essayons Capt. James Holcroft oversees the bridge of the dredge.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

The 25 crew members live on board for two weeks at a time, working 12-hour shifts so dredging can continue round the clock.

There’s a galley and a weight room, but not much else for entertainment.

Related: The deadly Northwest passageway ships have (somehow) crossed for centuries

After 40 years on the water, Holcroft isn’t overly concerned about the Columbia Bar, although he concedes it can get disconcerting when the vessel dumps sand near the beach through the massive holes in its hull.

“Sometimes, when we open the doors, some of the material stays in there a little bit longer, so the ship will heel over 20 to 25 degrees,” he said. “And we’ll be heeled over, working in the surf. And normally you don’t see a ship this size heeled over in the surf that’s not in trouble.”

Dredge sand about to be flushed out of the hold of the dredge Essayons, from holes in the hull.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

Over the years, several people have called 911 to report problems with the Essayons.

“But that’s just our job,” he said, laughing.

The floating city isn’t always floating off the Oregon Coast. During different times of the year it sails to different locations — to hit environmental windows for endangered species.

In the spring, the ship dredges in Grays Harbor, Washington, working around green sturgeon. In summer, they head down to San Francisco Bay, working around smelt runs. Fall means avoiding endangered salmon along the Columbia River Bar.

But as soon as the first big winter storm rolls in, the Essayons will head back to the shipyard for five months of winter repairs.

In addition to all the computers and sensors on board the Essayons, the dredge captain also keeps an old-fashioned map table.

Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB

The post Life aboard the boat that retains the ‘Graveyard of the Pacific’ clear and Oregon’s financial system shifting appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

• I’ve flown in long-haul economy on Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways, and United Airlines this year.
• My most recent trip was on United after flying on Singapore and ANA — both considered 5-star carriers.
• Simple luxuries onboard the Asian airlines made the shortcomings of United more glaringly obvious.

For the first time ever, United Airlines disappointed me.

Last week, I set off on my annual trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland — a month-long event in which the city is transformed into a theater paradise with shows covering everything from stand-up comedy to improv musicals.

I usually book United or Delta when I fly across the Atlantic, and the former was the cheaper option this year amidst spiking international airfare. In fact, I actually decided to fly via London and take a train to and from Edinburgh to save about $1,000.

Having flown United several times in the past two years — including both domestic and international — I know what to expect and have typically had a good experience.

However, this trip was different. It wasn’t necessarily that the flight was bad, the economy cabin was just noticeably worse than other airlines I’ve flown on this year — specifically, Singapore Airlines and Japan’s All Nippon Airways.

Here’s what my recent experience flying on United in economy was like and why I’ll have lower expectations next time.

My nonstop United flights started and ended in Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, flying in and out of London Heathrow.

Taylor Rains/Insider

Newark is United’s third-largest hub behind Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, but it is a key player in the airline’s robust transatlantic network — which United boasts as being the biggest in the US. 

My $812 basic economy fare only included a personal item and a carry-on bag, so I was able to head straight to security for both flights thanks to United’s mobile boarding pass option.

Taylor Rains/Insider

I don’t typically travel with a checked bag simply because I prefer not to gamble with the many times unreliable baggage handling systems — especially after last year’s hectic summer. So, the basic economy fare is perfectly fine with me. 

If I did need to check luggage, however, the first bag would have cost $75, according to United.

Both aircraft were a Boeing 767-300ER — a fleet that United has updated with a fresh look as a way to modernize the older planes. And, I’ll admit, they didn’t feel decades-old.

Taylor Rains/Insider

United has kept its Boeing 767s around post-pandemic, having invested millions into retrofits that include adding Polaris business class and Premium Plus to the widebodies.

The two I flew on (N651UA and N675UA) are 31 years and 23 years old, respectively, according to Planespotters.

“I’ll give kudos to our maintenance team for keeping these aircraft in great shape,” United CCO Andrew Nocella said in a 2021 quarter two earnings call, noting the planes could fly for another 30 or more years.

“We do have optionality to fly these aircraft longer than I think people automatically assume.”

For both flights, I cozied up in seat 42L — a window seat on the right side of the aircraft that I paid in advance to reserve.

The seats were configured in a 2x3x2 layout, so I only had an aisle seat neighbor. Taylor Rains/Insider

Last year, I got a seat at random and didn’t enjoy the stress of possibly ending up in the middle seat, albeit I did get lucky with a window. But I still splurged for a guaranteed window this time around.

In total, I paid $64 for both legs, bringing the cost of my flight to London to about $875 roundtrip. Flights nonstop to Edinburgh were over $2,000 when I booked in February.

The seat was as I remembered it with a seatback screen and power ports, as well as the ever-important headrest that I need for sleep.

Taylor Rains/Insider

The headrest can make or break the inflight experience for me.

In fact, a mediocre headrest was actually one of the few faults I found in Singapore’s premium economy cabin — and why I actually prefer the carrier’s coach product instead. 

Plus, the 2x3x2 configuration meant it was just me and my aisle-seat neighbor. I also had okay legroom, though I’m only 5’3″ and on the smaller side and fit into most airline seats.

Taylor Rains/Insider

According to SeatGuru, each seat has 31 inches of pitch and 17.3 inches of width, which is the expected standard in coach.

I felt I had plenty of space for my hips and legs, but taller passengers may want to upgrade to extra-legroom seats like Economy Plus or Premium Plus.

However, that’s pretty much where the perks stopped — and, for the first time, I was disappointed in United’s product. But, I think I figured out why.

Taylor Rains/Insider

It was about an hour after takeoff that I realized the seat was pretty much as standard as it could get, nothing that made it stand out or give it a special pizzazz.

Up until this point, I had experienced a wide range of economy cabins this year, including Singapore Airlines and ANA, as well as low-cost carriers LEVEL and Norse Atlantic Airways.

Taylor Rains/Insider

I experienced Singapore’s Airbus A380 coach class in January from Frankfurt to Singapore and then tried out ANA’s Boeing 787 economy product in March on a flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles.

In April, I suffered for seven hours on Spanish low-cost carrier LEVEL between New York-JFK and Barcelona thanks to cramped seats and overpriced food. However, budget newcomer Norse actually surprised me with its roomy cabin and inflight entertainment.

These two sets of carriers are on opposite sides of the spectrum — Singapore and ANA are considered 5-star carriers by Skytrax, while budget airlines LEVEL and Norse require the pesky add-on fees.

Taylor Rains/Insider

I have had both my best and my worst flight experiences this year, and it gave me a new perspective when flying on major global carriers.

After experiencing the best of the best with Asian airlines, and then facing the challenges of low-cost airlines (albeit Norse was better than expected), I went into United with the wrong expectations.

United’s seats are sleek, but slim. Taylor Rains/Insider

United, which also happens to be partnered with both ANA and Singapore in the Star Alliance, is basically right smack in the middle in terms of the inflight experience.

And, I didn’t notice the shortcomings until now.

Essentially, I’ve realized that United easily has the perks to outshine carriers like LEVEL and Norse, but it falls drastically short compared to Singapore and ANA.

I definitely felt more cramped on Norse (pictured) compared to United. Taylor Rains/Insider

United’s 767 pitch equaled that of Norse’s 787, but the former’s had better width and an overall more aesthetically pleasing cabin.

LEVEL’s A330, on the other hand, only offered 30 inches of the pitch and I was stuck in the middle seat of the center section of the aircraft — it was actually pretty miserable, to say the least.

Starting with the seat itself, Singapore and ANA’s were both better padded, while ANA even offered a footrest — a perk that makes sleep that much easier.

The seat and footrest on ANA. Taylor Rains/Insider

Footrests are not very common in economy on airlines and are typically reserved as a premium economy perk, so I was surprised to see one onboard ANA.

But I can’t fault United for not having them since Singapore didn’t either, though both offer one in their premium economy cabins.

The Asian carriers also offer more legroom with 32 inches on Singapore and a whopping 34 inches on ANA — the latter being just one inch less than United’s Economy Plus section.

The legroom on Singapore felt much more spacious, though the extra storage probably helped as it kept the underseat area more clear. Taylor Rains/Insider

Economy Plus is United’s extra-legroom option and can cost a pretty penny to reserve.

So, getting good legroom as the default with Singapore and ANA made me forget how cramped US economy cabins can be without the upgrade.

In fact, 31 inches of pitch is the standard on most of American and Delta’s widebody jets, according to SeatGuru.

Granted, 31 inches is not bad, but if other carriers offer more, then that’s an easy reason to spend money elsewhere.

As far as amenities, the plush linens on the Asian airlines made United’s feel cheap.

Top left is Singapore, top right is ANA, and the bottom is United. Taylor Rains/Insider

While I particularly liked ANA’s silky blanket, Singapore’s linens were the best I’ve ever had in economy thanks to the thick, warm blanket and the hotel-grade pillow. I even got an eye mask.

United’s pillow, however, felt rough. And, the U-shaped design wasn’t as comfortable as I think the carrier hoped. I also didn’t get a blanket on the return flight — only on the red eye to London. 

I have actually always had an issue with United’s mediocre 767 pillow, but ANA and Singapore’s made that shortfall much more obvious on my recent flight.

Taylor Rains/Insider

I didn’t sleep well on United, either, and that was after taking melatonin. I blame the recline mostly, as well as the less-than-cozy linens.

This wasn’t my experience on Singapore and ANA, though. Both seats had better comfort — something I only really noticed after flying United — with Singapore’s product helping me sleep for eight of the 12 hours between Frankfurt and the island nation.

Meanwhile, there were several other small perks that made ANA and Singapore shine — one being the convenient cupholders strategically molded into the product.

The left two images are ANA’s cupholder, while the right side is Singapore. Taylor Rains/Insider

I found myself grasping my drink during turbulence on United — a problem made easier with a designated cupholder.

Singapore’s tray table was even pretty unique with a hidden mirror, and it could fold in half to take up more or less space.

Taylor Rains/Insider

I didn’t realize how much a well-designed tray table can impact convenience when flying. ANA and Singapore gave me extra slots for cups, and I’m sure the mirror on Singapore can come in handy after a 12-hour flight.

Moreover, I appreciated the extra storage pockets offered on ANA and Singapore, and I even got a pre-flight drink on the latter — something I’ve never experienced on United, nor on Delta or American for that matter.

The seatback pockets on Singapore (top left), ANA (bottom left), and United (right). Taylor Rains/Insider

During my United flight, I struggled to find enough space for my laptop, chargers, water bottle, and provided food and drinks as the seats lacked any sort of added storage space.

I ended up using the slit between the seat and the fuselage to free up space by my feet. Granted, the dual seats did not have a divider between them, making the under-seat area a little more spacious, which helped.

While I can’t knock United for its inflight entertainment — which is always great — it had other pitfalls surrounding customer service, the food, and cleanliness as well.

I think United has a great selection of movie and TV shows. I watched Bay Watch and Miss Congeniality. Taylor Rains/Insider

Singapore and ANA are renowned for their friendly flight attendants, yummy meals, and squeaky-clean cabins, but I found the opposite on United.

But, to be fair to United, the carrier does have really great inflight entertainment. However, I found the USB port didn’t work on the return leg.

When it comes to customer service, I don’t expect flight attendants to be nice and happy at all times. But, I got a sense of annoyance during most interactions with them.

Taylor Rains/Insider

To be clear, I don’t really care how flight attendants treat me because their jobs can be very difficult — but there was a significant tone difference that made me feel less welcome on United compared to my journeys on ANA and Singapore.

For example, when I asked to clarify the meal options I was met with a less-than-nice reaction and a response that indicated my question was simply annoying. Not a huge deal, but something that stuck out.

As far as the food, I knew not to expect much on United — the carrier doesn’t have the best reputation in terms of catering. But, I remember the meals being better before.

Dinner came with chicken and rice, veggies, chocolate bites, mozzarella, and bread. Taylor Rains/Insider

I skipped the meal service on the outbound in favor of trying to get a few hours of sleep — albeit unsuccessfully — but I had both lunch and dinner on the return journey.

We were offered pasta or chicken for lunch and a savory pastry for dinner. I opted for the chicken, and the meat itself was good but the sides — as well as the dinner pastry — were pretty tasteless.

I’ll admit, the pastry didn’t taste as bad as Air Canada’s, but it wasn’t very appetizing. Taylor Rains/

The chicken dish came with bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, rice, vegetables, and chocolate. While half of the meal was good — particularly the chicken — I couldn’t stomach the rice, and the vegetables had a strange texture. The mozzarella was also surprisingly bland.

Meanwhile, the pastry reminded me of my experience on Air Canada, which offered me a breakfast pastry that had a texture and look resembling baby food.

This compares to the food I had in July 2022 on United’s 767 from Boston to London, which was much more appetizing.

The dinner on my United 767 flight from Newark to London in July 2022. Taylor Rains/Insider

Last year, the meal served was also chicken and veggies, complemented with ice cream, a roll, and a side salad. I remember the ingredients being more diverse and flavorful.

It’s also possible that United’s catering is simply better when originating in the US rather than in London since my less-than-stellar meal was experienced on my recent return flight — the tastier meals I had last year were on the outbound.

Singapore and ANA, on the other hand, had more creative meals with much better flavoring and overall appeal.

The top two photos are ANA’s breakfast (left) and dinner (right). The bottom two photos are Singapore’s breakfast (left) and dinner (right). Taylor Rains/Insider

The colors and smells of the food on ANA were appetizing, and I loved the sushi and edamame options despite my initial hesitations.

Meanwhile, Singapore offered potatoes, beef, noodles, and ice cream. Overall, the Asian airlines are simply in another league in terms of catering — especially considering Singapore’s specialized catering center near Changi International Airport.

While I can bear passive cabin crews and mediocre food, the one thing that will get me is cleanliness — and United’s lavatory was a dump.

While the bathroom was gross, I appreciated the full-body mirror. Taylor Rains/Insider

Ever since I flew on Singapore and ANA, I have a new standard for cleanliness on aircraft and the lavatory is a sticking point.

On the Asian carriers, I found the bathrooms were always tidied up, the sinks were wiped down, and the bins were emptied.

ANA’s bidet is on the top left and was a lifesaver on the flight. Meanwhile, Singapore’s full-body mirror and touchless bin opener were nice touches. Taylor Rains/Insider

The bathrooms on ANA actually had a bidet toilet — one of the only airlines in the world to have it — while Singapore’s had a sleek look with wood-like finishings.

Not to mention, the Asian lavatories had nice perks like a step to open the bin, meaning I didn’t have to stick my clean hand into the trash can to make the paper towel fit.

On United, however, there was paper all over the floor and the bins were so full the paper towels were pouring over the top. It was, in a word, gross.

I went to the lavatory a few hours into the flight and found it was far from clean. Taylor Rains/Insider

I didn’t trust the cleanliness after my first trip to the lavatory four hours into the flight, so I ended up waiting to go again until I cleared passport control at Newark.

However, United’s lavatory did have a full-body mirror, which was the only thing I appreciated. And, I noticed this isn’t just a United problem as the lavatories on LEVEL and Norse were not regularly cleaned either.

Given all of this, I don’t necessarily think it was a horrible flight or United has a bad product. Simply, I finally experienced the world’s 5-star airlines and they have that ranking for a reason.

Singapore Airlines flight attendants onboard the carrier’s A380 in 2020 when it was turned into a restaurant. Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images

ANA and Singapore are in another league when it comes to product. The seats are spacious and the food is delicious and the flight attendants are trained with a very specific expectation of customer service.

And, this doesn’t mean I won’t ever fly United again. In fact, I have several trips coming up that I’ll be on United — I’ll just go in with lower expectations next time.

I was disappointed in the customer service, food, and cleanliness on United after flying 5-star carriers Singapore and ANA earlier this year. Taylor Rains/Insider

However, it’s possible I’d opt for Singapore or ANA on flights from the West Coast to Asia rather than taking United across the Pacific — assuming the price is right.

According to Google Flights, a roundtrip flight from San Francisco to Tokyo in November on United is $1,500.

ANA is $300 more and, for me, the product would easily be worth the extra few hundred dollars thanks to the little touches that make all the difference.

The post Flew United Economic system and It Was Disappointing In comparison with Singapore, ANA Airways appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

dr Dre on the radio, The Matrix on the big screen, The Sopranos on TV: 1999 was a wonderful year for many reasons, including economic ones.

That year, median household income rose to a record level, a record that has lasted for nearly two decades. (The average American family was poorer when Donald Trump was running for office than when Bill Clinton left office.) Wages rose across the board — all types of workers received steady pay increases. Productivity growth was strong. Wealth inequality has remained stable and far lower than it is today. The poverty rate has reached its lowest level in years.

I could go on for a long time with the hard statistics: The proportion of workers with a college degree increased. The home ownership rate boomed. The stock market is booming. Consumer confidence was at an all-time high. The proportion of employees was higher than ever before. Investor optimism was higher than ever. The proportion of Americans who say the country is going in the right direction is also at an all-time high.

Yascha Mounk: Farewell to the prophets of doom

Things just felt like they were going well and getting better. High quality televisions were ubiquitous; Cell phones are beginning to replace pagers. The proportion of households with a computer and an Internet connection exploded, and the Internet promised to change everything.

Now: catchy TikTok blips on the radio, warmed-up superheroes on the big screen (at least until Barbenheimer), Peak TV drowns us in good content: 2023 is boring for many reasons. About half the country believes we are in or about to enter a recession. Consumer confidence has fallen, as has investor sentiment. Inflation is taking its toll on American families.

But I’m here to tell you this is the best economy ever. Really. This year’s economy has now surpassed that of 1999, the best on record. It is growing fairer than it has been for years. American families are financially more secure and wealthier than ever. It’s going great, I swear.

The labor market is booming, and for once not only for rich people. The unemployment rate is at its lowest level in 60 years – there are more jobs than in a generation. Competition for labor hasn’t just pushed up incomes — the median household income is near its all-time high, which is $6,000 higher than it was in the late 1990s. It has also caused the wages of the lowest paid workers to increase more than those of the highest paid workers. In the last three years, a quarter of the wage inequality that has increased over the past four decades has been eliminated. The real wages of the lowest paid workers are rising faster than since the 1960s. The country’s wage structure is not becoming more unequal, but more equal.

Arindrajit Dube, a labor economist who studies this “unexpected” phenomenon, told me that the country’s “job ladder” collapsed about 20 years ago: workers in bad jobs were stuck in those bad jobs and couldn’t move up. “From around 2018 or 2019 you notice that the tight labor market is bringing some health and dynamism back,” he told me. “People are making more changes. The big resignation, the big reshuffle, whatever you want to call it – it means the market is working better. And it allows people to leave jobs that are really bad.” As a result, workers report that they are happier with their jobs today than at any time since the 1980s, and 4 million more people are in full-time jobs (and 1.6 million fewer people are in part-time jobs) than before the pandemic.

Income improvements and the government’s stimulus payments during the pandemic have helped lift millions of families out of poverty. The child poverty rate has fallen from 12.5 percent to just 5.2 percent in the last three years. This is the lowest value ever measured. The proportion of people living in deep poverty or near-poverty has also declined, and food insecurity is at its lowest level ever.

Bigger paychecks help middle-class families buy homes and build wealth. The homeownership rate was rising faster than ever before interest rates skyrocketed a year ago; Families in the bottom half of the income distribution are more likely to own a home today than at any time since the housing bubble burst in 2006. Most millennials own property; The generation is beginning to catch up with Generation X and the Baby Boomer generation in terms of wealth and household formation.

The economy has also brought extraordinary gains to black Americans. The unemployment rate for black workers is near an all-time low and the unemployment rate gap between white and black workers is narrowing at an all-time high. The wages of black workers are also increasing rapidly.

By all sorts of esoteric standards, American families are doing better than ever. The default rate on loans is at an all-time low. Real disposable income is higher than ever before. The number of personal bankruptcies is at an all-time low.

So we have to ask ourselves: Why don’t we celebrate like we did in 1999?

The most immediate answer is inflation. Not only does it eat away at people’s wages (although income and disposable income are still growing when adjusted for inflation). People just hate doing mental arithmetic every time they fill up their tank or go to the supermarket. And consumers tend not to notice when things are getting better instead of worse: Inflation has cooled significantly, and the prices of eggs, gas, used cars, airline tickets, and dozens of other common consumer goods are falling, but many families have failed to realize this fact.

Then there’s something I like to call the wrong apartment problem. Far too few residential units have been built in the country’s major cities in recent decades; In the meantime, there are also bottlenecks in rural areas. According to one estimate, if supply met demand, about half of Americans would live elsewhere; New York would be eight times the size it is now and San Francisco would be five times the size. Renters are spending a larger portion of their income on housing than they did in 1999, and rents have risen 135 percent while average earnings have risen just 77 percent. The country faces an affordability crisis as health care, childcare and rent eat up large chunks of family budgets.

Nonetheless, these statistics still underscore how dire the situation is. People don’t spend what they can’t afford, and almost nobody can afford what they want anymore. Yes, we have more income, more cash on hand, and better living standards than at any time in our history. But millions of us can’t live in the neighborhoods we want. We’re stuck in too-small, too-distant accommodations, giving up dreams of a second bathroom or a third child. For this reason, nostalgia arouses on social media for the economic conditions of the 1950s, when many Americans still lacked indoor sanitation but could at least live in Brooklyn, Somerville or San Francisco with a decent salary. We’re all stuck in the wrong apartment.

A third key element is inequality. Although lower-income Americans have begun to narrow the gap, it is a very recent phenomenon. And the incomes of the very rich are still growing faster than everyone else. Even as living standards improve, the feeling that gains are not shared equally is detrimental to our communities.

James Surowiecki: The Bad Vibes Economy

The political and media environment is certainly also a factor. Today’s severe polarization is forcing people to hate business if they hate the president and love business if they love the president, meaning Republicans just aren’t happy right now. “Partisan bias exerts a significant influence on survey measures of economic expectations, and this bias is growing,” says a new study. Turn on the TV and the world is a disaster too: the climate catastrophe, the war in Europe, threats to democracy at home, social media that burns our brains and ruins sex and hanging out, among other pleasures. What can you look forward to again?

Be happy about it: Economically, things are going well for once. They are amazing. You are as good as ever. I promise.

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With the introduction of more climate protection regulations, ClimateTech companies can more easily get the green light for their innovative products and solutions. We are entering an era of complete modernization of HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).

The North American market for HVAC systems was valued at nearly $44 billion in 2022, and it is projected Grow to over $62 billion by 2029 at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2%. Demand will remain strong due to climate change with its extreme temperatures, the growing real estate market and companies’ efforts to reduce costs through energy-efficient appliances. If you are building an HVAC business, now is the time. Here are just a few market niches that you may be able to fill.

Refrigerants need to be replaced

The refrigerants currently used are harmful to the environment. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are thousands of times more harmful than carbon dioxide. The good news for the HVAC industry is that a global agreement dictates that all refrigerants with GWP – the global warming potential – must be replaced by 2030, a very ambitious target.

HFCs are detrimental to the ozone layer and are considered the main contributors to global warming. And they are used by every air conditioner manufacturer. In the future, companies will have to adapt to new requirements.

In October 2022, President Joe Biden signed an international agreement committing the US and more than 130 nations to reduce the production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 14 years. According to scientists, the measure will help at least partially mitigate the upcoming increase in global temperatures.

It’s time to save energy and costs

Existing HVAC systems consume too much energy and, what is worse, they work non-stop. I’m a big advocate of cost efficiency and the right insulation process could help many companies and manufacturing facilities. I recently visited a factory that was using an HVAC system that I helped develop. But they had a cavity in the wall through which air could easily flow, so they lost a lot of energy. Basically, the cooling process never stopped.

You cannot save energy by leaving the air conditioner on all day. HVAC systems are not designed to work 24/7 – they should not run more than 8 hours a day. The same goes for our homes and office buildings, as well as the data centers of big tech companies like Google and Apple.

In New York, most greenhouse gas emissions come from city buildings, as many of them are old. In Arizona and Texas, where temperatures reach over 100°F, the need for energy savings is enormous. It opens up a window of opportunity for new business areas, for example for insulating materials.

According to the current status reportsThe demand for energy efficient solutions in buildings will fuel the growth of the insulation market, which is expected to reach US$42.5 billion in 2029.

Alternative energy HVAC solutions

The resources of our planet are not unlimited. According to some estimates, we will run out of fossil fuels this century. Electricity prices will also rise due to the increasing load on the electricity grid. The development of entirely new alternative energy based HVAC systems is critical for both business and the planet.

We also need to lower the cost of food production: most agribusinesses use technology that leaves a large carbon footprint. New HVAC systems could use solar power, ice-powered air conditioners, geothermal heat pumps, and possibly technologies we haven’t developed yet. This is all a great opportunity for entrepreneurs looking for their “next big thing” and a market with potential for exponential growth.

Latiful Kabir is an advanced manufacturing engineer and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) expert based in Clarksville, Tennessee.

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SAN FRANCISCO — Last year, with pandemic lockdowns in its rearview mirror, Whole Foods Market made a bet on a grim San Francisco neighborhood. The high-end supermarket chain opened a massive flagship store in a part of the city that’s home to both tech companies like Twitter and open-air drug stores.

But the business soon found itself head-on with many of the problems that plagued the area. People threatened employees with guns, knives and sticks. According to records of 568 emergency calls over 13 months, many of which showed scenes of chaos, they threw food, screamed, fought and tried to defecate on the ground.

“Man with machete is back,” says the report of an emergency call. “Another guard just got attacked,” says another. A man with a 4-inch knife attacked several security guards and then sprayed store employees with foam from a fire extinguisher, according to a third party.

In September, a 30-year-old man died in the bathroom from an overdose of fentanyl, a potent opioid, and methamphetamine.

When Whole Foods announced in mid-April that it was closing the store citing the safety of its employees, many in San Francisco saw it as some of the city’s most persistent problems: property crimes like shoplifting and car break-ins, an entrenched network of dealers selling fentanyl and other illegal drugs Selling drugs and people suffering from untreated mental illnesses roaming the streets.

The closure also appeared to be the latest indicator of San Francisco’s faltering economic outlook, and provided more material for an ongoing debate about where the city is headed after tying its fate to the tech industry. The Whole Foods was intended to cater to technicians and other professionals, part of a long-term downtown redevelopment plan. But the business fell victim to a crushing downtown decline that began with the pandemic and could last for years as companies vacate offices to work remotely.

In a city famous for its boom-and-bust cycles, San Francisco’s ongoing slump has residents in a bad mood, angry at city leaders and waiting for the spark of revival. Now, largely because the tech industry has so fully embraced work-from-home, activity in downtown San Francisco remains at about a third of pre-pandemic levels — according to a new study that used cellphone data as a, lower than in about 50 other major cities a measure.

“This is going to be a very slow recovery,” Effi Shoua said this month from behind his desk at the downtown art gallery he owns in Union Square. The area is a prime spot for tourists who are steadily returning to the city, a bright spot and a contrast to the 26 percent vacancy rate for downtown offices.

Many merchants fear a domino effect of business failures, with office workers being permanently absent for about half the week, while people using drugs, experiencing mental health crises or living on the streets remain more visible than ever.

The impact on the city’s budget is also significant: the office industry accounts for almost three quarters of the city’s gross domestic product. After years of surpluses, the government now projects a deficit of $780 million over the next two fiscal years — a roughly 6 percent cut in its general fund, according to the mayor’s office.

City officials say they are looking at ways to diversify the economy and reduce homelessness and drug trafficking. They realize that some of the largest local employers, Big Tech companies, aren’t going to pull San Francisco out of its economic shoals. Twitter, Google, Facebook and Salesforce, all of which have offices in the city, have laid off thousands of workers.

San Francisco executives point out that the city has continued to bounce back, even after the near-collapse of the tech industry in 2000 and the national recession some eight years later.

“We’ve been tallied before and there have been others who have tried to imply it’s over because things aren’t happening as quickly or as they think it’s over,” said London Breed, the city’s mayor in an interview.

In the famously liberal city, where Republicans make up just 7 percent of voters, moderate Democrats like Mayor Breed are calling for aggressive moves to address public safety concerns, while progressive voices denounce law-and-order strategies as knee-jerk responses that trample on the weak .

City guides face some limitations. A federal judge ruled in April that San Francisco can’t evict the homeless from public spaces because it hasn’t done enough to provide shelter. Mayor Breed supports bills in the state legislature that would make it easier to coerce people with mental illness into treatment. The mayor has also proposed tackling homelessness through more building: cutting the construction permitting process with a goal of building 83,000 additional homes — a 20 percent increase over the city’s current total housing stock — in eight years.

Though downtown is littered with “For Rent” signs, the city’s unemployment rate is below 3 percent, and the mayor and other officials say the engineering talent pool remains the city’s greatest asset. And San Francisco has a lot more to offer than downtown. It’s always been a constellation of very diverse neighborhoods, some with very few of the social ills that plague the area near the closed Whole Foods.

Officials add that downtown could eventually become more resilient as it attracts industries like life sciences and biotechnology whose employees still need workspaces. The tech industry is also growing: the development of artificial intelligence, which promises to change the way people live and work, is concentrated in San Francisco.

Garry Tan, president of Y Combinator, a well-known venture capital firm, says he sees signs of renewal in San Francisco. “It’s always the gold rush,” he said.

Mr. Tan belongs to a generation of tech workers who are more confident in their demands of city officials and unafraid to take sides in the city’s murderous politics and fund organizations that are pushing for a greater emphasis on public safety.

“Now the narrative is out there for some of the founders in our community, I’m not sure I feel safe here. I’m not sure if I want to stay here. The quality of life issues are the issue. Can I start a family here?”

In early April, some tech leaders took the fatal stabbing downtown of Bob Lee, a prominent industry leader, as an alarming sign that downtown was unsafe. But an acquaintance was later charged, and San Francisco’s murder rate is quite low compared to other major cities. Overall, police statistics show fewer property and violent crimes in 2022 than in 2018, before the pandemic began.

Still, Bill Scott, the city’s police chief, says many residents complain that they feel less safe, and outdoor drug use, much of which is tied to fentanyl, is a major contributor.

Matt Dorsey, a board member who lives steps from the closed Whole Foods, said the recent election signaled a shift in voter priorities. He pointed to last year’s dismissal of progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin, who was replaced by a prosecutor who promised to crack down on crime.

“San Francisco is in the midst of a voter revolt over public safety,” said Mr. Dorsey. In a poll conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle in September, nearly two-thirds of respondents said life in the city is worse than when they first moved here.

New district attorney Brooke Jenkins has started prosecuting more drug-related offenses than Mr. Boudin, but the city saw a 40 percent increase in fatal drug overdoses in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Citing those statistics, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday authorized an anti-narcotics task force in San Francisco that will include members of the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol Police.

The mayor and police chief have promised to hire hundreds of additional officers, which would expand the force by more than a quarter, a difficult feat when law enforcement agencies across the country are facing bottlenecks.

Not everyone is on board.

Dean Preston, a board member who was re-elected on a Democratic-Socialist platform in 2020, opposes an increase in police staffing and says calls for more public safety are overblown.

“There has been a massive propaganda effort to change public opinion about policing and public safety,” he said.

Mr. Preston uses his district as an example of how uneven the pandemic recovery has been. Some areas like Japantown and Haight Ashbury are thriving, he said. Others, like the Tenderloin, which sits next door to the closed Whole Foods, are riddled with drug dealing and homelessness.

One of the next big tests for downtown could be the expected opening of an Ikea store this summer not far from the Whole Foods location.

Police described theft as rampant at Whole Foods, with thieves walking away with an armful of alcohol, at least initially. After 250 shopping baskets were stolen, the company refilled 50 more. Those are gone too.

According to official reports, at least 14 people have been arrested in the 13 months that the store has been in operation, on charges including theft and assault. Chief Scott said plainclothes officers were sent there and security has been improved over time, but apparently not enough for the company.

On a recent chilly night across from the closed store, Joseph Peterson, a former construction worker who lost both legs to diabetes and is homeless, rolled down the sidewalk in his wheelchair. Mr. Peterson was able to see the 2,000-unit Trinity Apartments, the high-end complex that Whole Foods had hoped would become its client base. Across the street, security guards were standing outside the Orpheum Theater, where Pretty Woman: The Musical was playing. A few dozen steps away, vendors sold fentanyl and crystal meth.

Mr Peterson said he understood why Whole Foods closed the store.

“People kept stealing from it,” he said. He, too, has taken macaroni and cheese and chicken from the warm snack bar several times, he said. But he made a difference. Other people stole from the store because they wanted to resell what they had taken.

“I only stole mine to eat,” he said.

Alain Delaquérière, Susan C. Beachy, and Kitty Bennett contributed to the research.

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The editors of the San Francisco Chronicle issued a stark warning about San Francisco’s economy, emphasizing that the city must move forward as quickly as possible to avoid a “fate loop” as employees transition to remote work.

“Experts say post-pandemic problems stemming from office workers staying home instead of commuting into the city could push San Francisco into a ‘doom loop,’ eroding its tax base, decimating tariff-based regional transit systems like BART and trapping it into an economic death spiral,” the editorial warns.

The editorial also drew a comparison between San Francisco after COVID-19 and New York City after 9/11, as commuters feared returning to New York’s skyscrapers after the terrorist attacks.

But with enough subsidies, the article argues, Manhattan rebounded thanks to new train stations, public parks, malls, and residential buildings in the Financial District. But San Francisco has yet to make structural changes.

SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR TORCHES AS SEEKS FEDERAL ASSISTANCE TO COMBAT CRIME CRISIS: “YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS”

A view shows the downtown skyline of San Francisco, California, June 29, 2022.

“Despite our housing crisis, the COVID pandemic took years for our leaders to meaningfully question the logic of reserving some of the most valuable real estate on earth for moody suburbanites and their cars,” the editorial reads.

READ ON THE FOX BUSINESS APP

“And so we squandered generous federal COVID emergency funds trying to bludgeon, cajole, and pray for office workers to return downtown instead of planning for change,” the article continued. “We are now staring at the consequences of this lack of vision.”

VISIT INCREASED DUE TO INCREASING CRIME IN SAN FRANCISCO DAMAGING BUSINESS

The editors suggested investing in office conversions and demolishing office buildings for new projects, which would require financial support from the state government.

Last year, San Francisco topped the list of cities homebuyers were looking to move from. 24% of buyers in a Redfin report wanted to leave San Francisco.

The story goes on

Alexandria Real Estate Equities founder and CEO Joel Marcus told Fox Business in January that redeveloping older office buildings into multi-family units could solve the housing crisis.

“I think this is a monumental opportunity for this country to take over this inventory of older office buildings,” Marcus said in Mornings with Maria. “Nearly 996 million square feet by checking account, and move that to a housing stock because it’s there and just needs rehab.”

An aerial view of the San Francisco skyline in California, October 28, 2021.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A range of economic indicators for San Francisco points to good news and a strong recovery from the effects of the omicron variant of COVID-19, according to a monthly report by the city controller’s office.

Good news came in the form of data from March on job creation, tourism, housing, office attendance and among other indicators, new business formation.

READ MORE: Coastside Volunteers Make, Sell Tamales to Help Ukraine

But San Francisco’s chief economist Ted Egan was real about the state of the economy.

“I don’t think the good economic news in our March report changes the fact that San Francisco still has a long way to go in its economic recovery. Our job creation, tourism, and housing are all moving in the right direction. But they are still well below where we were before the pandemic, and far behind where comparable cities are.”

The San Francisco metro area added 12,300 jobs in February, more than half of which was in the leisure and hospitality sector, a sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment was at 3 percent, the lowest rate for the pandemic era.

The number of housing units permitted jumped again. San Francisco permitted about 325 units in January, up from fewer than 200 in October and fewer than 50 in November 2020.

READ MORE: Judge Rules Landmark California Corporate Diversity Law Unconstitutional

A few new businesses opened at the beginning of the year in the neighborhood services classification, which includes equipment repair, dry cleaning, and among many other things, pet care services.

Local travel is recovering but residents are still cautious about getting out, according to the controller’s office. Weekly hotel occupancy topped 50 percent in mid-March in San Francisco, only the second time that’s happened since the pandemic began.

But the city is still behind other leading destinations when it comes to hotel revenue recovery.

Office attendance continues to recover sharply since the beginning of the year and from April 2020 when it was below 10 percent.

MORE NEWS: Mountain View Police Investigate Death of Los Altos High Student as Possible Fentanyl Overdose

© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Andy Bell puts his good luck at work. In 2001 he was running a small company called Handyman Matters and won $50,000 worth of legal services from a business contest. He used the windfall to draft a franchise disclosure document and operations manual, which ultimately helped him begin franchising his company. Then, in 2019, just months before the onset of the pandemic, he sold that company to Ace Hardware. His company was transformed into Ace Handyman Services, which was perfectly positioned to assist people in their homes during COVID. It now has 252 territories across 42 states, having added around 100 in the past year, and has landed almost squarely in the middle of our list.

Here, Bell explains how that explosive growth happened.

Who approached who about the acquisition?

[Ace Hardware VP and CFO] Bill Guzik called me one day. He was seeing the “do it for me” economy start to emerge, and he wanted to position Ace to bring help into people’s homes. It took me a nanosecond to say “absolutely” to partnering with them.

What is the “do it for me” economy?

People see home as a sacred place and want to make it more comfortable and useful for not only their personal lives but also their careers. So this economy creates more services to assist with the greatest investment many of us have.

How has the association with Ace helped you during COVID?

We were really fortunate to rebrand in March 2020. There are some statistics that say 9 out of 10 people recognize the Ace brand in America, and that really inspired our franchise owners. The consideration that potential franchise owners gave us was greater and more profound than before.

Related: Balance Growth vs. Profitability With These 4 Tips

You’ve more than doubled your locations since the acquisition.

Ace has continued to invest in us. We’ve doubled our staff, training, marketing, support, and administrative capabilities. There are disciplines within Ace that we’ve been able to leverage, like accounting.

But that would’ve only gone so far had the fundamentals of the business not been so strong. We answer the phone and show up on time. We’ve got technology that tells the customer who’s walking into their home and what their credentials are. We kept doing everything we’ve done in a lot of respects, but now we’ve been introduced to millions of Ace Hardware customers.

Why do you think you’re now drawing many new franchisees with corporate backgrounds?

People who did a lot of face-to-face sales tend to not be the biggest proponents of doing everything on Zoom. They see this as an opportunity to change direction but not change how they do business.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved

This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com

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Demiraiakian, who does furniture assembly and artisan work, said she was once tasked with allegedly removing small tree stumps only to find out that it would require much more powerful tools than she brought with her – information she says she doesn’t were forwarded to her until she got to work. After trying to remove the stump anyway, she left with not only a collection of defective tools that she estimated to cost $ 500 and would have to replace herself, but also with her salary if she left the job early. (A cell phone spokeswoman said Demiraiakian had been paid in full for the job in question. When asked about the discrepancy with Demiraiakian’s account, which she also submitted as part of a legal statement, the spokeswoman declined to comment.)

She says she was charged $ 50 for canceling jobs after learning they were 100 miles away (cell phone customer service said she was charged for “walking away from a booking within the penalty time.” “; the company does not cover the transportation costs for the jobs employees under their policy) who were not reimbursed for the additional time they spent completing tasks because a customer customer did not adjust the booking times and sexual harassment on Workplace has experienced. But she always comes back when she needs to.

“When money runs out, I know I can find a job or two on cell phone,” she told CNN Business. “I don’t know much to expect.”

Handy may not have received as much attention as on-demand counterparts like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, but it emerged in the same age and has a similar business model. Handy was founded in 2012 and later acquired by Angi, the parent company of Angie’s List (now also known as Angi). The company relies on a workforce of independent contractors in hundreds of cities across the United States. As contractors, these workers largely lack the basic legal protections that workers are entitled to, including minimum wage, compensation, paid sick leave and sexual harassment prevention training.

In the latest example of broader billing in the US via the gig economy, several major cities are questioning how cellphone classifies and treats workers like Demiraiakian.

In a letter this week to Oisin Hanrahan, co-founder of Handy and CEO of Angi, Workers in Philadelphia, Seattle and Chicago write that it is “very likely” that the company will misclassify its workers as independent contractors in order to avoid certain responsibilities it would have as an employer under applicable labor laws, such as a copy of the shared Writing out first with CNN Business. It will be signed by Andrew Fox and Steven Marchese, directors of the Chicago and Seattle Labor Standards Offices, and Amanda Shimko, director of the Philadelphia Office of Worker Protections.

“Cell phone’s treatment of its employees shows classic characteristics of the relationship between employer and employee,” said the letter. Workers use the “Economic Realities” test under the Federal Act on Fair Labor Standards to support their assessment. Officials note that this is a “far more forgiving standard” than local “ABC” tests, which use three criteria to determine whether workers are salaried in states like California and Massachusetts. (Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart spent more than $ 200 million passing an election measure to exempt their companies from a new California labor law – Assembly Bill 5 or AB-5 – that requires an ABC test on the ballot contain.)

An integral part of this “economic reality” test is the level of control a company has over its employees. The letter says that cell phones control everything based on the information it tells workers about a job and employee communications with clients to compensate, including charging various charges to punish workers.

In a statement to CNN Business, a spokesman for Handy said that its employees, whom the company describes as professionals, “are properly classified under both tests.”

“Professionals decide if, when, where, how often, for whom they want to provide their services, and are not obliged to accept a certain number of jobs or even to work via the platform at all,” the statement said. “Professionals use the mobile platform to supplement their income and find jobs that fit their schedules, including other jobs and personal commitments.”

The spokesman said cell phones limit “length of communication only for the safety and protection of professionals,” claiming employees could exchange information with customers for future jobs outside of the app. However, Handy charges employees a fee for arranging off-platform jobs with customers, according to its website.

Labor officials also raised concerns outside of the worker classification issue, writing that they believed Handy violated other local regulations that protect workers, such as being an essential company in certain markets during part of the pandemic, even though they did not meet the requirements as failure to comply with various local protective measures for domestic workers. (The cell phone spokesman said he “fully adhered to public health rules and regulations in all markets during the pandemic”.)

An industry that is being scrutinized

The investigation comes at a time when the local workforce is increasingly scrutinizing how workers are being treated by companies. A report by Terri Gerstein of the Economic Policy Institute earlier this week found that an increasing number of prosecutors and attorneys general are taking on employers on issues ranging from employee misclassification to wage theft. Meanwhile, gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft are struggling more than ever to cement a business model that doesn’t require certain workers to be classified as workers.

Fox, the director of the Chicago Office of Labor Standards, said in a statement to CNN Business, “We have worked hard in Chicago to ensure that all of our employees receive a living wage and receive the stability, fairness and reliability they deserve . ” . ”

He said his office is “proud to join forces with our colleagues in encouraging Handy to get involved and provide their employees with the protection they have guaranteed here in Chicago and across the country.” The letter describes requests for additional information from Handy about its business practices.

With this move, Handy is now being closely monitored in five of its top markets – as measured by the number of detergents it works with in those areas – for its business model, according to Jenny Montoya Tansey, political director of the Public Rights Project. The Public Rights Project is a legal, not-for-profit organization that works with state and local governments, including Philadelphia, Seattle, and Chicago, to step up enforcement of potential labor rights violations.

In March, San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys filed a lawsuit against Handy for allegedly misclassifying its workers under AB-5. Demiraiakian, along with several other workers, filed a statement in support of the lawsuit earlier this month, outlining their experiences as part of the case. The cell phone spokesman said the suit was “categorically wrong and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of cell phones business” and that the company “will aggressively combat this misguided action”. The suit is still ongoing.

In Angi’s annual state-of-the-art filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was “particularly sensitive to adoption of employee classification laws” and noted “adverse tax, legal and other consequences” if it did the status of an independent contractor of its workers is challenged. Handy had some success lobbying local carve-out bills to defend its business model, exempting it and other gig companies from labor standards like minimum wage and hourly laws and unemployment insurance.

“We focused on cell phones”

The California litigation came after the Public Rights Project filed a complaint with the California Department for Fair Employment and Housing last fall alleging that some cell phone cleaners in the state reported having been sexually harassed at work , and that the company not only had not done enough to address incidents, but at times penalized workers with fees for leaving jobs early after incidents. The New York Times reported that Handy at the time said it was responding to such incidents and “workers are only charged a fee if the customer complains about an unfinished job,” which could be verified and not by the worker was contested.

Handy general counsel Jennifer Bishop said in a statement to CNN Business that training for the support team on responding to harassment reports has increased. “Any time a professional is harassed, we encourage that professional to leave the site immediately and report it to our team. The professional is paid in full, reimbursed for travel expenses from the location of the incident, and receives a call from our specially trained response Team, “Bishop said in a statement.

According to Montoya Tansey, there are a number of factors that have led cell phone to be scrutinized, including an increasing organization of domestic workers and new local domestic worker protection.

“We started tracking the problem of low-wage worker misclassification a few years ago when AB-5 was advancing in California legislature,” said Montoya Tansey, adding that home services was one of the sectors she added to this The exact time examined came to enforcement.

“We got into cell phones pretty quickly … because they seemed to have significantly more control over their people than some of the other companies in the market,” she said, noting that this matters as the control factor is used to determine it whether the workers are properly classified.

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