THE SUNDAY GLEANER, MARCH 6, 2022 | BUSINESS C9 UKRAINE CONTINUED FROM C8 Ms. Whitney Smith Administrative Assistant, Project Services National Housing Trust 50 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5. Tel: 929-6500-9 Ext: 4443/4435 or toll-free: 1-888-CALL-NHT (1-888-225-5648) CONTACT NOTICE Company Secretariat & Legal Services Department NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST 4 Park Boulevard, Kingston 5. Tel.: (876) 960-3159 or (876) 929-6500-9, Ext. 8427 or 8428 or toll-free: 888-CALL-NHT (888-225-5648) NAME LAST KNOWN ADDRESS Manier Johnson • Land Part of Cedar Grove, Mandeville, Manchester • Albion District, Mandeville, Manchester Rosalee Johnson • Land Part of Cedar Grove, Mandeville, Manchester • Old Brampton Road, NewGreen, Mandeville, Manchester. The National Housing Trust is seeking to contact the following persons: Will these persons, or anyone knowing their whereabouts, kindly contact: affecting Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, all of which have been developing the Russian visitor market. Sixth, East-West tension may halt the support the Caribbean needs to adapt to climate change. The signs are that in the shortterm governments around the world will now delay abandoning fossil fuels and as with the pandemic, pursue a ‘me first’ approach that diverts resources and sets aside the region’s existential need for financing. And finally, Caricom will be further divided by Caribbean heads’ recent decision to determine individually which sanctions they will adopt. Rapid changes in relationships and postures are under way. A divided United States has shown bipartisan support for the tough measures that President Joe Biden has taken. NATO, EU member states, the Baltic nations and even Switzerland and Germany have reacted in a coordinated manner, that just two weeks ago would have been hard to imagine. But perhaps the most significant development relates to China, which could well emerge from the conflict as the world’s most influential future power broker. It is potentially in a win-win position. Russia now has little option other than to redirect its trade relations towards China, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East while trying to find a mediated solution in Ukraine. Undoubtedly aware of this, China has abstained in recent UN votes on Ukraine. Moreover, following a conversation between Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, and Dmytro Kuleba, his Ukrainian counterpart, Wang called on Ukraine and Russia to find a solution through negotiations, noting “we have always advocated respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries”. China, he said, supported “all constructive international efforts that are conducive to a political settlement” and believes “the security of one country should not be achieved at the expense of the security of other countries”. China’s view, on how best to respond to war in Europe, is similar to that of every government in the region, including Cuba. There can be no clearer indication of the way the world has changed. n David Jessop is a consultant to the Caribbean Council. Email: david. jessop@caribbean-council. org To access previous columns, visit: www. caribbean-council.org/ research-analysis IN A buoyant sign for the United States economy, businesses stepped up their hiring last month as omicron faded and more Americans ventured out to spend at restaurants, shops and hotels despite surging inflation. Employers added a robust 678,000 jobs in February, the largest monthly total since July, the US Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 per cent, from 4.0 per cent in January, extending a sharp decline in joblessness to its lowest level since before the pandemic erupted two years ago. Friday’s hiring figures were collected before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sent oil prices jumping and has heightened risks and uncertainties for economies in Europe and the rest of the world. Yet the February hiring data suggest that two years after COVID-19 sparked a nationwide shutdown and 22 million job losses, the disease is losing its grip on America’s economy. More people are taking jobs or searching for work – a trend that, if it endures, will help ease the labour shortages that have bedevilled employers for the past year. In addition, fewer people are now working remotely because of the disease. A continuing flow of people back to offices could boost employment in urban downtowns. And the number of Americans who are delaying job hunts for fear of the disease fell sharply from January, when omicron was raging, to February. “All signs are that the pandemic is easing its hold on jobs and the economy,” said Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation and a former Labor Department official. “Very strong numbers in very uncertain times.” Other recent economic data also show the economy maintaining strength as new COVID infections have plummeted. Consumer spending has risen, spurred by higher wages and savings. Restaurant traffic has regained pre-pandemic levels, hotel reservations are up and far more Americans are flying than at the height of omicron. INCREASE IN INFLATION Still, escalating costs for gasoline, wheat and metals such as aluminum, which are exported by both Ukraine and Russia, will likely accelerate inflation in the coming months. Higher prices and anxieties surrounding the war could slow hiring and growth later this year, though economists expect the consequences to be more severe in Europe than in the United States. Inflation has already reached its highest level since 1982, with price spikes especially high for such necessities as food, gasoline and rent. In response, the US Federal Reserve is set to raise interest rates several times this year beginning later this month. Those increases will eventually mean higher borrowing rates for consumers and businesses, including for homes, autos and credit cards. Chair Jerome Powell said last week he plans to propose that the Fed raise its benchmark shortterm rate by a quarter-point when it meets in about two weeks. Powell has acknowledged that high inflation has proved more persistent and has spread more broadly than he and many economists had expected. One figure in Friday’s report could provide reassurance for the Fed’s policymakers as they assess inflation pressures: Average hourly pay barely grew in February. Higher wages, while good for workers, often lead companies to raise prices to cover their higher labour costs and thereby further heighten inflation. But that slowdown might not last if inflation worsens. Some staffing agencies are seeing a shift in what is driving higher pay. Previously, it was companies’ need to fill jobs. Now, some workers are saying they need raises to cover rising costs. Michelle Reisdorf, a district director at recruiter Robert Half in Chicago, who fills permanent and temporary jobs in accounting, human resources and other professional jobs, said workers are starting to cite higher gas costs when seeking a raise, particularly if they drive to offices. “If they know they are going to have to go onsite five days a week, they are definitely asking for more money,” she said. The strong hiring in February occurred across most of the economy, with restaurants, bars and hotels adding 79,000 jobs, construction 60,000 and transportation and warehousing 48,000. Though the economy still has 2.1 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic struck, the gap is closely fast. A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that Americans are now much less worried about COVID than they were in December and January. Mask mandates and other restrictions are ending. Data from the restaurant reservation software provider OpenTable showed that seated diners surpassed pre-pandemic levels late last month. And figures from the Transportation Security Administration reflected a sharp increase in the number of people willing to take airplane flights. After months of concerns about labour shortages holding back businesses, more Americans started job searches in February for the second straight month. The proportion of Americans either working or looking for a job rose to 62.3 per cent, up from 61.5 per cent a year ago, though it remains below the pre-pandemic level of 63.4 per cent. The number of people who said they avoided job hunting because they were concerned about COVID fell to 1.2 million in February, down 600,000 from January, when omicron was raging. Gregory Daco, chief economist at tax advisory firm EY-Parthenon, suggested that the increase in the number of Americans looking for a job last month was “the most important number” in the report. “That will reduce wage growth pressures and put us on a more sustainable trajectory for the economy,” Daco said. AP For sale and hiring signs are displayed at an Armani Exchange store on January 21, 2022, in Miami Beach, Florida. THE UNITED States government announced Thursday that it would resume limited processing of immigrant visas in Havana more than four years after halting that service and removing most diplomats from Cuba over suspicions they had been targeted for mysterious attacks. The Havana embassy’s chargé d’ affaires, Timothy ZúñigaBrown, announced that the consulate would soon begin processing some immigrant visas for which documentation already is complete, though he did not give a date. Most visas will continue to be processed in Guyana on the South American mainland – a costly and difficult journey away for most Cubans. Zúñiga-Brown said the US is interested in “safe and legal” immigration, particularly for family reunification cases which had been complicated by the withdrawal of diplomats. SURGE IN UNAUTHORISED MIGRATION ATTEMPTS Cuba last year saw a surge in unauthorised migration attempts fuelled in part by an economic crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic, increased US sanctions and cutbacks in aid from Venezuela. Most US diplomats were withdrawn from Cuba in 2017 after the administration of then-President Donald Trump accused Cuba of targeting some at the post with weapons that caused lingering and sometimes serious brain injuries – allegations Cuba has always denied. Canadian diplomats also reported such incidents. While the maladies came to be called ‘Havana Syndrome’, they were also reported by hundreds of American officials at missions around the world and even in Washington. CIA findings released in January determined it was unlikely that Russia or another foreign adversary had used microwaves or other forms of directed energy to attack the Americans. That conclusion was not universally accepted. A separate panel of intelligence experts said last month that several potential causes remain plausible, including the use of devices that emit beams of directed energy. The panel said some of the injuries are not compatible with psychological causes. The uncertainty about the cause of the illnesses has added to friction between officials and those suffering from symptoms. President Joe Biden had campaigned on easing the Trump administration’s tough series of new sanctions on Cuba, but so far has taken only limited steps toward the sort of relaxation that occurred under Barack Obama, who visited Cuba and made dealings with it far easier. AP US to resume some visa services in Cuba after four-year break AP Strong job growth points to COVID’s fading grip on US economy
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